Press release by issuing company
Latest Circulation Report Shows Slight Sunday Increase
The newspapers and online sites of the Bay Area News Group - principally the San Jose Mercury News, the Contra Costa Times and the Oakland Tribune -- continue their domination of print media in the San Francisco Bay Area, the nation's fifth largest market, according to report released today.
The newspapers saw an increase in Sunday circulation and a small decrease in daily circulation.
"Despite the growth of new platforms that carry news and information, the more traditional news products of print and online continue to deliver the most audience for our advertisers," said Mac Tully, Publisher of the Mercury News and Group Vice President of the Bay Area News Group.
"The fact that we have increased total paid distribution on Sunday while only having a slight decline in daily circulation while at the same time expanding our audience on new platforms is a significant accomplishment for us. According to Scarborough Research, combining print and online, the Bay Area News Group properties reach 2.7 million adults each week in the San Francisco DMA."
The Bay Area News Group filed its annual September Publisher's Statement with the Audit Bureau of Circulation (ABC), the industry's official monitor of newspaper circulations in the nation. The numbers are being released today in ABCs FAS-FAX report.
In January of this year, the Bay Area News Group consolidated its daily newspapers - the San Jose Mercury News, the Contra Costa Times, the Oakland Tribune and the San Mateo County Times -- under the San Jose Mercury News flag, reflecting the use of similar news reports particularly for Sports, Business, Entertainment, Food and Travel.
The FAS-FAX report shows that the Mercury News' circulation makes it one of the Top 10 newspapers in the country Sundays and throughout the week. The circulation of the Mercury News is more than double that of its main competitor, the San Francisco Chronicle.
For the newly combined reporting of Mercury News, the September report shows a Sunday circulation of 528,537. Compared to an adjusted and aggregated 2009 circulation of 527,461 that includes the Contra Costa Times and Oakland Tribune, this represents an increase of .2%. Daily print circulation was 477,595, compared to 492,820, a decrease of 3.1%, among the lowest in the country of major metropolitan newspapers.
"By holding our print circulation steady, we are able to grow our audience because our websites continue to attract a large audience," said Tully. "We have more than 7.6 million unique visitors a month when we combine the websites of MercuryNews.com, ContraCostaTimes.com, InsideBayArea.com and SiliconValley.com."
"The 400 journalists in our newsroom represent the largest news teams in the Bay Area. We will continue to deliver our news reporting across news platforms and we will launch applications for the iPhone and iPad in the next six weeks," said Tully.
The Bay Area News Group is part of the California Newspapers Partnership, the largest publisher of daily newspaper in California. CNP is co-owned by Media News Group of Denver, CO, the managing partner; Gannett Co. of McLean, VA, and Stephens Media of Las Vegas, NV.
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