Circulation Numbers Continue Decline

An NAA analysis of the data from the Audit Bureau of Circulations (ABC) shows that daily circulation fell 0.9 percent and Sunday was down 1.7 percent for the period ending March 31, 2001.

The Spring 2001 Competitive Media Index, an NAA analysis of top-50 U.S. market data from Scarborough Research, found that daily newspaper readership fell from 55.1 percent to 53.5 percent. On Sunday, the rate was 63.8 percent, a drop from 65.1 percent in the fall 2000 report.

"We know readership has been slowly trending down, and the reason for this trend is understandable. People today simply have more choices for how they get their information and entertainment," said NAA President and CEO John F. Sturm in his president’s report at the NAA Convention, April 29 – May 2.

The industry is in the midst of a Readership Initiative designed to determine what drives readership. One part of it is the 100-newspaper, 37,000-consumer Impact Study conducted by the Readership Institute at Northwestern University. Among the results of the study is the finding that 85 percent of adults use a daily newspaper. (See April 2001 Press News.)

"It would be disingenuous for us to say we’re not concerned about what’s happening with newspaper readership," said NAA Senior Vice President and Chief Marketing Officer John E. Kimball. "Though we know that newspapers deliver better-than-Super Bowl-TV numbers everyday, we need to look at how newspapers can leverage their strengths in each market."