Daily Circ Plunges 8% at 'Newsday' in New ABC Audit

By: Jennifer Saba The Audit Bureau of Circulations (ABC) finally released today Newsday's six-month audit ending March 30, 2005. Total daily circulation for the paper is 439,708, down 8.8% from the same period last year. Sunday circulation is 506,177, down 6.6%.

The paper is still undergoing censure from ABC for misstating circulation numbers in the recent past. Under that provision, Newsday is not included in the FAS-FAX report for one year; additionally the paper must undergo audits twice a year for two years.

The March 2005 numbers show a dip from ABC's recent audit of the March 2004 numbers.

Timothy Knight, publisher of Newsday, said in note issued to employees today that "much of the decline can be attributed to our business decisions to concentrate on our core market and on quality circulation that is most valued by our advertisers."

Newsday's daily average for other paid circ -- the category that accounts for Newspapers in Education (NIE), employee copies, and third-party sales -- is 32,153 or 7.3% of total circ. NIE made up the bulk of other paid circ, with 23,111 copies or 5.2% of total circulation. For the March 2004 statement, 32,073 copies fell under NIE, or 6.6% of total circulation.

Daily single copy circ for the paper is 112,556, which represents roughly 25% of total circulation.

Knight outlined ways the paper is improving its circulation, including scaling back sales outside its core area including New York City; discontinuing subscription sales programs that relied on heavy discounting; and managing its NIE program.

In September, Newsday announced it was cutting its New York City edition and offering 45 buyouts in the newsroom. According to the latest report, 10,692 copies were sold in Manhattan and 52,890 daily copies were sold in all of New York City.

"All of this has contributed to circulation numbers that are lower but reflect a quality audience that is engaged with our content and responsive to advertisers," Knight wrote. "As we have stated in the past, we are not interested in circulation for circulation's sake."

If Newsday had made the March 2005 FAS-FAX it would be the country's 12th largest paper in terms of daily circ falling below the Arizona Republic in Phoenix (daily circ, 452,016) and above The Boston Globe (daily circ 434,330).