Newspaper circulations hold up and buck global trends

THE decline in newspaper circulation appears to have slowed. Latest figures show the Australian industry is weathering the downturn in consumer spending better than US and British papers.
Overall, the circulations of metropolitan, national and regional papers fell just 0.9 per cent in the three months to March 31 compared with the corresponding period last year, according to the figures, by the Audit Bureau of Circulations. Weekday sales of The Sydney Morning Herald rose a fraction, to 212,700 copies, in a NSW newspaper market in which the circulations of most mastheads fell. The weekend issue held steady at 359,000 copies.
The Herald's nearest competitor, News Limited's The Daily Telegraph, lost nearly 6000 sales during the week, a fall of 1.5 per cent, to settle at 360,563.
Sales of its Saturday issue fell by a half a per cent, to 331,272.
Both NSW Sunday papers suffered significant declines. Sales of Fairfax's The Sun-Herald fell 4 per cent, to 480,000 - after the decision to drop two editions from its printing cycle because they were uneconomic. The Sunday Telegraph fell 2.7 per cent, to 651,872.
Fairfax's The Australian Financial Review posted a large drop. It sold 5700 fewer copies during the week, 82,764 - a fall of 6.5 per cent. At weekends sales fell 3946 copies, to 98,168 - down 3.9 per cent.
The chief executive of Fairfax Business Media, Michael Gill, said: "Corporate cost-cutting, reduced investor activity and redundancies in key sectors have reduced our circulations. The trend is broadly in line with previous periods of weak … activity."
Sales of News Limited's The Australian rose more than 3.6 per cent on weekdays, to 138,765, and 3.7 per cent at the weekend, to 316,174.
The figures gave the industry marketing body cause for optimism. The Newspaper Works, which comprises the three main newspaper publishers, Fairfax, News and APN, said the figures proved newspapers were bucking the trend of steep declines in circulation globally. Sales of US and British newspapers fell 7 per cent and 4 per cent respectively over the same period. The top three Australian broadsheets - The Australian, the Herald and The Age - rose by 0.2 per cent on weekdays and by half a per cent at the weekend during the audited period.
The chief executive ot the Newspaper Works, Tony Hale, said: "This proves once again that newspapers play a vital role … and are not considered a discretionary purchase that can be given up in tough economic times."

Source: smh.com.au

Financial Times circulation dips after price rise

IN downbeat month for quality titles, the Guardian is only daily to post a month-on-month rise in circulation, albeit slender

The Financial Times's circulation dipped by 2.51% last month after the paper raised the price of its daily and weekend editions.
Pearson's financial title, which increased its cover price to £2 on weekdays and £2.50 at weekends at the beginning of April, was down to 421,059 daily sales on average last month.
This was a 6.06% decline on the FT's April 2008 sales figure, according to the latest figures from the Audit Bureau of Circulations published today.
The FT, which also increased its price twice last year, had an average daily circulation of 122,286 in the UK and Eire, 61.97% of which were sold at full rate. Circulation of its Europe edition was 118,250, its Asia edition 37,030 and the US edition 143,473.
In a downbeat month for quality newspapers, the Guardian was the only daily to post a month-on-month rise in circulation in April, albeit slender.
The Guardian, which raised the price of its Saturday edition by 10p to £1.70 on 18 April, had a circulation of 343,259 on average each day, up 0.68% compared with the previous month.
However, the paper, part of the same group as MediaGuardian.co.uk, was down 2.21% compared with April 2008.
The Guardian distributed 37,714 overseas copies. Full price sales were 77% of total circulation - the highest in the daily quality market.
The Independent's circulation of 204,429 in April was 0.43% down compared with March and 16.1% year on year. It circulated 44,804 overseas copies last month. Full price sales represented 55.92% of papers circulated each day.
Last month the Daily Telegraph was down 0.87% compared with March and 6.18% year on year to 817,692. It circulated 36,244 copies overseas and 99,250 bulk copies in the UK. Full rate sales were 43.82% of the total.
The Times fell 1.57% month on month and 4.43% year on year to 590,765. It distributed 24,333 copies overseas. Full price sales were 66.2% of the total.

Source: Guardian.co.uk

UK: Sales woe continues for quality dailies

ALL the national quality daily newspapers recorded month-on-month and year-on-year sales falls in December.
The Independent simultaneously recorded the smallest month-on-month decline and the biggest year-on-year fall in the quality daily market last month, according to the latest Audit Bureau of Circulations figures published today.
In December its headline circulation included 43,854 copies on average each day distributed overseas.
The paper's circulation was 200,242, down 12.33% year on year, but only 0.43% down compared with November. Just 115,496 copies of the Independent – 58% of total circulation – were sold at full rate in the UK.
The Times remained just above the 600,000 mark – by 962 copies – with a 3.36% fall from November and a 2.33% decline year on year.
News International's quality daily distributed 23,301 copies overseas and had a full-rate UK circulation of 398,031, 66% of its headlines December sales figure.
The Daily Telegraph fell just 1.35% compared with November, from 835,497 to 824,244 copies sold each day on average. But this was a 5.64% decline year on year from 873,523 in December 2007.
The Daily Telegraph's full rate circulation in the UK was 355,394 in December – just 43% of its total sale. The paper's overseas distribution was 40,081.
The Guardian, which is published along with MediaGuardian.co.uk by Guardian News & Media, had a circulation of 343,010 in December.
This was 4.29% down compared with November and 2.95% less than December 2007. 81% of the Guardian's circulation was at full-price, the highest in the quality daily market.
The Guardian distributed 38,510 copies overseas and had a full rate circulation in the UK of 273,885.
The Financial Times recorded a circulation of 435,319 in December, 2.94% down compared with November and 2.23% down year on year.
Last month the Financial Times had a full-rate circulation in the UK of 77,205. 134,318 copies were circulated in the US, 126,071 in Europe and 39,756 in Asia.
Last month, the Guardian distributed 14,372 bulk copies – copies sold to hotels, airlines and gyms for a nominal fee and given away to customers.
The Independent's bulk sales were 35,575 in December, the Daily Telegraph distributed 98,336 across the month with the Times distributing 55,569.

Source: The Guardiaon