Newspaper circulation drops 1.9 percent

Circulation fell 1.9 percent at major U.S. newspapers in the six-month period ending in March, an industry group reported Monday, May 2, 2005, marking one of the worst declines in recent years.

Newspaper circulation reached a recent peak in 1984 but has been declining steadily over the past decade as other forms of media compete for the attention of readers, including cable television and the Internet.

The Newspaper Association of America, a Vienna, Va.-based industry group, reported that average daily paid circulation declined 1.9 percent in the most recent reporting period for the 814 newspapers reporting comparable data to the Audit Bureau of Circulations. Average Sunday circulation for the 643 newspapers reporting those figures fell 2.5 percent.

Both were wider than the declines of 0.9 percent in daily circulation and 1.5 percent in Sunday sales in the previous six months reported by the Audit Bureau, a circulation reporting group based in Schaumburg, Ill.

Gannett Co.'s USA Today remained the top-selling paper in the nation, according to the Audit Bureau, with total paid circulation edging up 0.05 percent to 2,281,831. The Wall Street Journal fell 0.8 percent to 2,070,498. The New York Times rose 0.24 percent to 1,136,433, and Tribune Co.'s Los Angeles Times's daily circulation, including Saturdays, fell 6.5 percent to 907,997.

Other major papers posting significant declines included the Chicago Tribune, the flagship paper of Tribune Co., whose daily circulation fell 6.6 percent to 573,744. Hearst Corp.'s San Francisco Chronicle fell 6.1 percent to 468,739.

Despite the long-term erosion in paid circulation, major newspaper companies have continued to produce profit gains, largely thanks to advertising rate increases, and newspaper stocks have held up relatively well.

Over the past five years shares of major publishers like Gannett, Tribune and Knight Ridder Inc. have outperformed the S&P 500 index, with the exception of Dow Jones & Co., which has been dragged down by a prolonged drought of financial and technology advertising at The Wall Street Journal.

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