ABC: Metro papers continue to fall
Metropolitan newspapers saw a 3% year-on-year drop in the latest circulation figures, with Fairfax Media’s The Australian Financial Review still seeing the biggest fall.
The Audit Bureau of Circulations results for the three months to the end of March was softer compared to the same period last year, which industry body The Newspaper Works is attributing to a number of major news stories that broke at the beginning of 2009.
Events that featured heavily in the news included the Victorian bushfires, the federal Government’s household stimulus package and overseas, the inauguration on January 20 of US President Barack Obama.
However, the numbers show that this time last year also saw a general decline in newspaper circulation, albeit not as steep as this time around.
Meanwhile, News Limited’s Daily Telegraph Saturday edition and the Herald-Sun also on Saturday, experienced the smallest falls, down just over 1% year on year (YOY) respectively.
In contrast, the AFR weekday paper fell 8.63% YOY to 75,624, while its weekend edition fell 6.55% to 91,735. However, its performance was still better than the previous quarter, when both editions fell by around 10% respectively.
Its inserts, AFR Magazine and Boss also saw YOY falls.
Financial Review Group CEO, Michael Gill, said: “The financial pressures experienced by our core customers last year significantly disrupted employment and business activity.
“It is therefore positive to see that our most recent circulation results indicate that declines have bottomed and early signs of circulation recovery are emerging.”
The AFR has recentlybeen hit by senior editorial staff defecting to rival The Australian. A number of new appointments have since been made, including BRW editor-in-chief, Sean Aylmer, moving to the role of deputy managing editor for the Fairfax paper.
Among the newspaper inserted magazines, News Limited’s The Deal and Wish performed the worst, down 27.9% and 26.67% respectively.
ABC Newspapers – Biggest falls
Title Jan-Mar ’10 Jan-Mar ’09 %change
CANBERRA TIMES (Sat) | 56,187 | 59,595 | -5.72% |
SUNDAY MAIL (QLD) | 527,674 | 559,114 | -5.62% |
SYDNEY MORNING HERALD (Sat) | 340,026 | 359,000 | -5.29% |
AGE (Sat) | 279,900 | 294,900 | -5.09% |
SUNDAY TERRITORIAN | 21,376 | 22,459 | -4.82% |
WEST AUSTRALIAN (Sat) | 332,127 | 348,824 | -4.79% |
NORTHERN TERRITORY NEWS (M-F) | 19,964 | 20,948 | -4.70% |
CANBERRA TIMES (M-F) | 32,835 | 34,354 | -4.42% |
AUSTRALIAN | 132,690 | 138,765 | -4.38% |
WEST AUSTRALIAN (M-F) | 191,312 | 199,707 | -4.20% |
AGE (M-F) | 189,500 | 197,600 | -4.10% |
WEEKEND AUSTRALIAN | 304,548 | 316,194 | -3.68% |
ADVERTISER (M-F) | 181,130 | 187,908 | -3.61% |
NORTHERN TERRITORY NEWS (Sat) | 30,655 | 31,718 | -3.35% |
CANBERRA TIMES (Sun) | 34,544 | 35,641 | -3.08% |
DAILY TELEGRAPH (M-F) | 349,635 | 360,563 | -3.03% |
COURIER MAIL (M-F) | 208,214 | 214,468 | -2.92% |
SUNDAY TIMES (WA) | 311,808 | 321,200 | -2.92% |
ADVERTISER (Sat) | 252,640 | 259,481 | -2.64% |
SUNDAY TELEGRAPH | 636,149 | 651,872 | -2.41% |
SUNDAY MAIL (SA) | 300,526 | 307,376 | -2.23% |
SUNDAY HERALD-SUN | 607,400 | 620,000 | -2.03% |
COURIER MAIL (Sat) | 300,830 | 306,798 | -1.95% |
SYDNEY MORNING HERALD (M-F) | 209,011 | 212,700 | -1.73% |
MERCURY (M-F) | 46,323 | 47,123 | -1.70% |
DAILY TELEGRAPH (Sat) | 327,538 | 331,272 | -1.13% |
HERALD-SUN (Sat) | 509,500 | 515,000 | -1.07% |
MERCURY (Sat) | 62,769 | 62,689 | 0.13% |
SUNDAY AGE | 223,100 | 222,000 | 0.50% |
SUNDAY TASMANIAN | 60,615 | 60,163 | 0.75% |
HERALD-SUN (M-F) | 509,000 | 518,000 | -1.74% |
ABC Newspaper Inserts – Biggest falls
Title Jan-Mar ’10 Jan-Mar ’09 %change
DEAL, THE | 99,129 | 137,479 | -27.90% |
WISH | 101,376 | 138,242 | -26.67% |
AFR MAGAZINE | 87,236 | 95,473 | -8.63% |
BOSS MAGAZINE | 87,543 | 95,158 | -8.00% |
SUNDAY LIFE (NSW) | 442,417 | 479,227 | -7.68% |
TELEVISION | 442,417 | 479,227 | -7.68% |
TV GUIDE (QLD) | 527,674 | 559,114 | -5.62% |
GOOD WEEKEND (NSW) | 340,026 | 359,000 | -5.29% |
GOOD WEEKEND (VIC) | 271,000 | 284,600 | -4.78% |
AUSTRALIAN MAGAZINE | 304,548 | 316,194 | -3.68% |
TV GUIDE (WA) | 311,808 | 321,200 | -2.92% |
SUNDAY MAGAZINE (VIC) | 591,100 | 608,576 | -2.87% |
SYDNEY MAGAZINE, THE | 184,805 | 189,375 | -2.41% |
TV GUIDE (NSW) | 636,149 | 651,872 | -2.41% |
SUNDAY MAGAZINE (NSW) | 631,527 | 646,688 | -2.34% |
TV GUIDE (VIC) | 591,100 | 604,719 | -2.25% |
TV GUIDE (SA) | 300,526 | 307,376 | -2.23% |
QWEEKEND | 300,830 | 307,459 | -2.16% |
SPORT & STYLE (VIC) | 150,400 | 149,700 | 0.47% |
SUNDAY LIFE (VIC) | 223,100 | 222,000 | 0.50% |
TV GUIDE (TAS) | 60,615 | 60,163 | 0.75% |
AGE (Melb) MAGAZINE | 176,200 | 172,900 | 1.91% |
SPORT AND STYLE (NSW) | 154,353 | 150,733 | 2.40% |
You have the herald sun rising by 1.74%, but your numbers have it dropping from 518K to 509K.
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Hi bospub,
Thanks for pointing that out. That’s now been amended in the copy and table.
Cheers,
Camille – Mumbrella
My guess is the AFR circulation drop has something to do with the bulk copies purchased by companies and put on managers’ desks each morning.
It’s one of the first things to be cut during a recession, but, and as I’ve already said I’m guessing here, the timing of subscription renewals means the cut comes after the worst is over.
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It’s a nasty cycle. Advertising in newspapers drops because ad spends are being allocated elsewhere including classified. Fewer ads mean fewer pages, fewer pages means fewer stories and therefore a loss of interest from readers.
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Why keep buying the newspaper when you can get up to the minute news online? Loss of interest in newspapers is less about FEWER or LESS interesting stories – but more about it’s redundancy. wrote a recent blog on this very thing…http://scorchmarketing.com.au/.....l-miss-you
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If newspapers die where will the websites get their content from?
@ Ben S, that’s a good one, LOL
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