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ABCs: Newspaper print decline continues

Fairfax Media’s Sydney Sunday paper The Sun-Herald was again the biggest faller in the latest set of newspaper print numbers, with its rate of decline increasing since the last set of audited numbers were released.

The newspaper saw a drop of 21.3% in the quarter from July to September compared to the same period a year before. This was a slight increase on the 18.66% drop when the previous audited numbers came out three months ago.

In the new set of numbers, not a single metro Sunday paper was in positive print territory.

In Sydney, the Sun Herald fell from 410,407 to 322,959.

Its sister Melbourne title The Sunday Age fell by 15.4% to 193,545.

At the other end of the Sunday table, News Limited’s The Sunday Telegraph delivered the best result, just staying above 600,000 after declining by 1%.

In the daily battle, The Monday to Friday edition of the Age was the worst performer, dropping 16.9%

The drops in Fairfax’s numbers did not come as a surprise – coinciding with a price rise and rethink on distribution strategy for unprofitable copies.

News Limited CEO Kim Williams said: “Notwithstanding the fact we raised our cover price across four major metro titles this quarter, print circulation numbers have held up well in the current climate.”

Fairfax Media

 

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