Even with some individual newspapers seeing gains through digital subscriptions, the overall picture for the newspaper business remains bleak, especially for some of the nation’s largest newspapers. Total daily circulation for 593 reporting titles dropped 0.7% in just six months. The Sunday decline was double that, 1.4%.
While The New York Times boosted both its daily (6.5%) and digital (224%) weekday subscription, other big league outlets, like The Washington Post, saw staggering drops:
The Washington Post lost 8.3% of its daily print circulation while adding only about 2,000 digital readers. In New York City, both of the major tabloids saw their print circulations plunge. The New York Post lost more than a quarter of its daily total, and while it gained more than 50,000 digital readers, it still ended up down nearly 10% year-over-year. For the Daily News, it was an even worse story, with print falling 10% but no offsetting rise in digital.
A newspaper, though, does not live on subscriptions alone. Despite impressive circulation gains after an aggressive push (that is unlikely to repeat itself), The New York Times is still treading water due to collapsing advertising revenues.
Follow John Nolte on Twitter @NolteNC
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