Update: Prudential Amends Some Data in Circ Report

By: Jennifer Saba Prudential Equity Research released a note today with amendments to the ?Newspaper Circulation Volume 4? report on other-paid circulation, covered previously by E&P.

The research firm used some figures that were not comparable to the prior year. It affected the following papers in the report:

At The New York Times, Newspapers in Education (NIE) copies actually declined 5% versus Prudential?s original report, which said the category increased 72.7%. As such, the New York Times improved its CQ score from 4 to 3.

Prudential initially reported The Des Moines Register?s NIE copies for March 2006 was 6,349. The correct number is 5,305, which shows flat growth in the category versus the originally reported increase of 20.1%. The Register?s CQ score also improves from 4 to 3.

USA Today shows a decline of 0.8% in NIE copies using corrected numbers (versus the reported increase of 89.8%). This change results in an improved CQ score from 4 to 3.

For The Miami Herald, Prudential first reported its March 2005 home delivered circulation was 223,438, taking into account El Nuevo. The number should have been 169,848. Using the correct comparison, home delivered copies declined 6.2% versus 28.7%. It does not affect the Herald?s CQ score of 6.

Discounted copies of The Wall Street Journal were misreported. Using the corrected numbers, the category grew 746% versus the original version, which stated it dropped 67.8%. The change does not affect the Journal?s CQ score of 2.