The Audit Bureau of Circulation published the latest newspaper circulation numbers and I couldn't help that little homage to Tom Petty. Sorry, it won't happen again.
Here's the report and it's not pretty.
Circulation at many of the country's largest newspapers continued a steep slide as the Audit Bureau of Circulations Monday morning released the latest figures for the six months ending September 2009 -- proving yet again that the industry can't shake the dramatic declines that have taken hold over the past several years.
Here's the report for the Republic.
Daily circ at The Arizona Republic in Phoenix fell 12.3% to 316,874. Sunday was almost flat (-0.8%) to 458,992.
I'm sure we'll get a series of advertisements from the Republic in which they brag that Sunday Circulation was almost flat.
On a side note, I've been trying to cut down on a few vices and I'm choosing between giving up coffee or Schadenfreude for a couple months. Tough choice, but believe it or not, I'd rather give up coffee...so through this raging headache I will point out that the hapless Keven Willey who used to manage the Republic's editorial page and left to manage the editorial page of the Dallas Morning News faced a 22% circulation decline. This is on top of so many previous double digit declines, that the Morning News is now considerably smaller than even the shrunk down Republic.
THE ARIZONA REPUBLIC -- 316,874 -- (-12.30%)
THE DALLAS MORNING NEWS -- 263,810 -- (-22.16%)
Unfortunate that we do not have a credilbe major newspaper in the Phoenix market--but that's been the case for a long time. As far as Keven Ann Willey is concerned--it couldn't happen to more a deserving soul. She's just plain pitiful.
Posted by: RonB | October 26, 2009 at 12:40 PM
They mailed me an offer of the Sunday paper for 99 cents a week. Normally that would be a good deal, but the Devil like incremental gains as well.
I would rather throw a buck into a pig pen.
Posted by: State Senator "You know who" | October 26, 2009 at 01:23 PM
The data is clear: Arizonas would rather get their news ANYWHERE but the Republic.
Posted by: Peeves | October 26, 2009 at 01:30 PM
I blame Casey Newton and his crAZy cuckoo bird hairdo and designer eyewear.
Posted by: Conway | October 26, 2009 at 02:24 PM
I have been keeping my eye out for ways to hasten the end of the Arizona Republic for more than a year now.
I would love to have vital information about Iraq, Afghanistan and the economy/Federal Reserve via print but all the news sources apparently think passing on stock coverage on General McCrystal and the orthodox war mongers is enough - it isn't.
I would love to hear some contrarian info on the economy or a full discussion on the Federal Reserve (ha, like that is going to happen).
Newspapers (by and large) seem to be incapable of providing anything but government news releases.
Posted by: Thane Eichenauer | October 26, 2009 at 04:10 PM
Of course they lost a couple of thousand in Mohave County since they don't deliver there anymore, but really Greg, what is this thing you have with Keven Willey, she hasn't been here for years. For that matter Steve Daniels hasn't been working for the Republic for years either.
Posted by: Tom in Kingman | October 26, 2009 at 05:50 PM
Maybe if the Republic editorial board went to Sky Harbor and ran around like a bunch of raving lunatics for a few hours they might get some sympathy from Greg.
To use your favorite phrase ... another hapless effort.
Posted by: Jerry Brown | October 26, 2009 at 06:25 PM
It's a mystery to me why anyone continues subscribing to the Republic given they don't cover anything any more. If all the creatures of habit over 60 died, their circulation would probably be more like 3,000.
Posted by: Richard Moreno | October 26, 2009 at 08:09 PM
People who think the Republic's falling circulation is indicative of Arizonans turning away from the paper are delusional. With the web, the Republic, whether you like it or not, reaches more Arizonans than it ever has.
Whether it (or any new organization) can find a viable business model on the Web is another matter. But it's being read by far more people than a decade ago.
Posted by: Travis | October 26, 2009 at 09:14 PM
Travis, that's a bit like a car dealer saying "We haven't sold any cars this week, but 25 have been stolen off the lot so they are still very popular..."
Posted by: Gazzer | October 27, 2009 at 12:10 AM
Yes, yes, but surely the human cartoon Casey Newton has a little bit of culpability in this matter, no?
Posted by: Conway | October 27, 2009 at 02:17 AM
Keep the Coffee!
Posted by: Carl Hay | October 27, 2009 at 06:07 AM
If you give up coffee, does the name of the blog have to change before the FTC comes and gets you for deceptive advertising?
Posted by: Blackbird03 | October 27, 2009 at 09:32 AM
From what I can find the Dallas Morning News had a circulation of 814,000 in 1994 and 525,000 as recent as 2003. At 264,000 that's one third it's peak size. Maybe the editorial board declaring the illegal alien the "man of the year" was not such a smart move after all.
Posted by: Pericles | October 27, 2009 at 11:38 AM
And even worse, the SF Chronicle lost 25% of its circulation in the past 6 months.
Posted by: Andy | October 27, 2009 at 01:03 PM
I wonder how much business Cox has lost in the current downturn? I know a lot of people who have shut off their Cox account in the past year. Besides you can watch TV on your computor so who needs Cox? Sounds like another industry that is going to go the way of the albatross.
Posted by: ron | October 28, 2009 at 12:43 PM
Gazzer -- I was referring to people like Peeves, who states, "The data is clear: Arizonans would rather get their news ANYWHERE but the Republic." In fact, more people get their news from the Republic (via AZ Central) than any other source in Arizona. Just because their paid circulation is dropping doesn't mean fewer people are reading their stories. In fact, just the opposite.
Posted by: Travis | October 29, 2009 at 11:27 PM