Newspapers with Circ Increases Share Strategy

By: Joe Strupp For the handful of newspapers showing circulation increases in this week's otherwise depressing FAS-FAX Report, the reasons for the few readership jumps include everything from expanded circulation areas to local sports events.

But the key for those that managed to see good news in the overall national circulation decline appears to be aggressive efforts in getting and keeping readers.

"When we get a subscriber, we want them to stick," said Cristie Tallman, circulation director for the Bakersfield California, which saw a daily circulation rise of 974 to 63,252. "We've been hitting the concrete pretty hard."

The Californian is one of several newspapers that credited a push for long-term subscriptions, up to a year at a time, and automatic payments, for the higher circulation results. They contend that the discounted, longer deals payoff in higher circulation and fewer billing costs.

"We do not have to chase them down for a payment each month," Tallman said. "About 80% of our subscribers are on a long-term or automatic payment plan. That is how we keep our churn low, with six-month and 12-month plans."

A similar outcome occurred at The Indianapolis Star, which saw an increase of 860 to 252,862 in the recent report. Brian Priester, the Star's vice president of circulation, said the auto-pay and longer subscriptions were a major factor. "We have concentrated a lot on retention this year, getting as many people as we can," he said. "Forty-nine percent of our subscribers are on one of those plans, which is up from 43% in January."

Publisher Tom Giuffrida of the Palm Beach (Fla.) Post, which added about 1,000 paying subscribers to its 190,000 daily circulation, also credited those longer subscription deals. "Generally, if you can lock someone up for the long-term, at a better rate, you can reduce the churn and grow circulation," he said.

Giuffrida also pointed to a stepped up promotional effort, which spans radio, TV, and outdoor advertising, along with increased staffing in the paper's western and southern news areas where some 12 new editorial staffers were deployed.

"It is a fact that this remains a growth market," the publisher admits. "There is still population growth here that has generally been 1% to 2% annually for the last four to five years."

Tallman of the Californian cited other efforts aimed at signing up new subscribers, including the paper's kiosk program, which places 12 to 14 sign-up kiosks outside major retail areas every day. "We have increased those in the past year and it is really paying off," she said. "We also have more direct mail and new deals for weekend-only subscribers to go seven days."

At the News & Observer in Raleigh, N.C., Publisher Orage Quarles III is glad to spread the credit around for his paper's 1,310 daily circulation jump, even giving credit to the nearby University of North Carolina men's basketball team, which took home the NCAA title this past April. "We also had the U.S. Open (golf championship) in June," he said.

But Quarles does note other factors closer to his own control, namely several marketing and discount programs. One is the paper's participation in "Kids Day," a one-day event in March in which the paper donated 75 cents from every $1 single-copy sale to a local children's center. He said the event resulted in 161,000 single-copy sales, up from the usual 25,000.

"You help a good cause, you market the paper and you rally the employees," he said. "It's a lot of little things like that." Another successful venture was a home delivery push in nearby Durham earlier this year, in which subscribers were offered a 75% discount if they signed up for a one-year subscription at $40.

"We sold an awful lot of papers there," he said.

Then there's The New York Times, which has consistently increased its circulation numbers every six months, with this past report being no exception. The paper's upswing, albeit small percentage-wise, included an increase of 5,133 weekday subscribers on a daily circulation that tops 1.1 million. Ironically, Times officials credited the rise to new readers outside of the New York area.

"We've been expanding the markets we are in nationally," said spokeswoman Diane McNulty, who cited areas ranging from Youngstown, Ohio to Shreveport, La., as among those that recently added home delivery of the Times. "We are in 338 markets nationally, and a year ago we were in 302." She also credited major stories during the past year, ranging from the presidential election to Hurricane Katrina, for the boost.