By: Jennifer Saba In a familiar refrain, industry executives attributed the decline in circulation to several factors, including the "do not call list" and the weeding through of copies not considered valuable by advertisers.
According to the Newspaper Association of America, the drop for this reporting period is big -- daily circ is down 2.6% and Sunday fell 3.1%. For the period ending March 2005, daily circ dropped 1.9% and Sunday fell 2.5%, according to the NAA.
But during a conference call this morning with reporters, the NAA said that circulation has suffered more in years past. "We're not going to write the headline and say this is the worst ever," said John Murray, vice president of circulation at the NAA.
The organization has tracked circulation on an annual basis for the past 20 years. The headline for the weakest year would go to 1991, when daily circ slipped 2.6%. Sunday held steady.
The best year in gains: 1987, when daily circ inched up 0.5%, and Sunday grew 2%.
Despite the drops, the NAA said there were about 145 newspapers noticing daily circ gains, which is close to 20% of all reporting papers. One hundred and twelve papers, also accounting for 20%, grew on Sunday.
As for the losses, it's getting increasingly difficult for publishers to sell subscriptions, especially since the do not call list took affect, Murray said. (The registry was enacted in the fall of 2003).
Telemarketing was a good way for the industry to get starts, but retention was in the dumps. One bright spot: Murray said that subscriber churn in 2004 -- now at 52% -- has been at its lowest level in 10 years. "I would expect the number to be even better in 2005," he said.
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