Redesigns Don't Appear to Move Single-Copy Needle for Tribune Papers in New Circ Numbers

By: Mark Fitzgerald The chain-wide redesigns ordered by Tribune Co. in the late summer and fall appear to have done little to halt, let alone reverse, a slide in daily circulation.

Tribune Co. dailies, which are concentrated in big cities, all reported declines in circulation -- just as did nearly every metro newspaper under any ownership.

Boosting single-copy sales was one of the goals of the redesigns, which were also intended to use less newsprint, change the editorial/ad ratio to 50-50, and to require fewer people to process pages.

Daily circulation fell 7.4% year-over-year to 501,202 at the Chicago Tribune, which introduced a redesign in September, and converted its single-copy sales edition to a tabloid in January. A Chicago Tribune spokesperson did not immediately respond to a question about the effect, if any, the tabloid edition had on single-copy sales.

The paper instead pointed to the performance of the diverse product portfolio in its Chicago Tribune Media Group, which includes the free-distribution dailies RedEye, aimed at a young commuter audience, and Hoy, a Spanish-language paper, plus a high school paper TheMash, the hyperlocal reverse-published Trib Local editions and Fin de Semana, a Spanish-language total market coverage product. Total distribution including the paid Tribune was flat weekdays at 787,000 copies, grew 4% on weekends to 1.3 million, the Tribune said.

At the Orlando Sentinel, single copy sales declined while home delivery remained strong, according to a manager who said he was not authorized to talk about circ results. Sentinel daily circulation fell 9.4% to 206,205 in the period.

Tribune Co.'s other Florida newspaper, the South Florida Sun-Sentinel in Fort Lauderdale, also fell steeply in the reporting period. The paper was down 10.4% to 195,522.

But all major Florida dailies were down in the FAS-FAX -- several by bigger percentages than the Tribune papers.

The McClatchy Co.'s Miami Herald, for instance, plummeted 15.4% in daily circulation. The New York Times Co.-owned Sarasota Herald-Tribune slid 15.4% on weekdays.

The Los Angeles Times, the nation's fourth-largest newspaper, reported a daily circulation decline of 6.55%, below the industry average, to 703,181. A spokesperson said she did not have single-copy sales figures, but noted that the redesign was not launched in Los Angeles until late October, about a month into the reporting period.

Daily circulation of The Baltimore Sun fell 9.6% to 210,098, largely as a result of a decision to reduce circulation outside of the city of Baltimore and its core market of five surrounding counties, the newspaper said. Spokesperson Renee Mutchnik did not immediately return a phone message seeking comment about single-copy sales.

One of Tribune Co.'s smaller newspaper, The Hartford (Conn.) Courant, reported a weekday decline of 7.5% to 155,540. Single-copy sales results were not immediately available.