Newspapers Continue To Go Way Of Dinosaurs

[gh]

http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f ... e=business

[MJD]

Actually posted all the numbers yesterday and then deleted the post since it hit a bit too close to home.

1. USA Today, 2,296,335, down 0.59 percent

2. The Wall Street Journal, 2,083,660, down 1.10 percent

3. The New York Times, 1,126,190, up 0.46 percent

4. Los Angeles Times, 843,432, down 3.79 percent

5. New York Daily News, 688,584, down 3.70 percent

6. The Washington Post, 678,779, down 4.09 percent

7. New York Post, 662,681, down 1.74 percent

8. Chicago Tribune, 586,122, down 2.47 percent

9. Houston Chronicle, 521,419, down 6.01 percent

10. The Boston Globe, 414,225, down 8.25 percent

11. The Arizona Republic, 411,043, down 0.54 percent

12. The Star-Ledger of Newark, N.J., 400,092, up 0.01 percent

13. San Francisco Chronicle, 391,681, down 16.4 percent

14. Star Tribune of Minneapolis-St. Paul, 374,528, down 0.26 percent

15. The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, 362,426, down 8.73 percent

16. The Philadelphia Inquirer, 357,679, down 3.16 percent

17. Detroit Free Press, 341,248, down 2.18 percent

18. The Plain Dealer, Cleveland, 339,055, down 4.46 percent

19. The Oregonian, Portland, 333,515, down 1.24 percent

20. The San Diego Union-Tribune, 314,279, down 6.24 percent.

[tafnut]

13. San Francisco Chronicle, 391,681, down 16.4 percent

SAT IT AIN'T SO! I used to LOVE that paper in college. Herb Caen (sp?) and the green sports section! It wasn't a 'great' paper (like the LA Times, f'rinstance) but ya gotta love its provincialism. The city iself is STILL my all-time fave - it ain't 'San Fran' or 'Frisco' - it's The City!

[bad hammy]

The Chron's rationalization. Maybe someone closer to the biz can tell me if this is just double talk or not.

Chronicle Publisher Frank Vega said the newspaper's circulation declines -- nearly 80,000 weekday papers and just over 73,000 on Sunday -- were owed almost entirely to a deliberate strategy of trimming promotional distributions and giveaways.

"We cut a lot of what you would call unprofitable circulation around the first of the year,'' Vega said. "We made a decision that we want quality, profitable circulation that better serves our advertisers."

[El Toro]

Higher circulation can actually be detrimental to profit. The purchase price doesn't cover print and distributions costs so just pumping more out there for the sake of it doesn't help your bottom line. The only argument for higher circulation is if it generates more advertising. It sounds as though smaller circulation with a more clearly defined audience creates an easier advertising sell and better margins, at least for that paper.