Newspaper Circulation Holds Steady
Again

Digital
Circulation Now 15.3% of the Total

By: Nat
Ives Published: October
30, 2012

Paywalls still seem to be
paying off for newspapers.

The industry’s average
weekday circulation over the six months ending in September slipped just 0.2%
from the equivalent period a year earlier, according to the latest biannual
report from the Audit Bureau of Circulations. Sunday circulation increased
0.6%.

The numbers aren’t quite as
good as in the last report, when weekday circulation increased 0.7% and Sunday
circulation jumped 5%, but they’re again far better than the big declines seen
just two or three years ago and reinforce the notion that paywalls around
digital content are helping newspapers’ circulation
business.

Digital circulation
comprised 15.3% of all U.S. newspaper circulation in the six
months ending in September, the Audit Bureau said today, up from 9.8% from the
period a year earlier.

The Wall Street Journal,
the country’s biggest newspaper by combined print and digital circulation,
reported average weekday circulation of nearly 2.3 million, up
9.4%.

USA Today’s average
circulation slipped 3.9% to 1.7 million. It will be looking for a better
performance in the next report after introducing a redesign last month, but does
not charge for digital.

The New York Times
increased 40.3% to 1.6 million as weekday print fell 6.9% to 717,513 and digital
grew 135.8% 896,352. The Times introduced the pay meter on its site and apps in
March 2011.

The rules for reporting
circulation mean that not every unit of growth reflects a new reader; a
newspaper can count paying readers twice if, for example, they pay for both
print and digital.