Audit Bureau of Circ. Releases Total Audience Report Monday

Newspaper single copy sales - a barometer of paid circulation - are expected to show a 5 percent decrease when the Audit Bureau of Circulations releases its FAS-FAX numbers on Monday for the six-month period ending with September.

Daily circulation for the more than 700 daily newspapers included in the report is expected to be down about 2.5 percent, with Sunday circulation falling 3.5 percent, reports Editor & Publisher.

Several major papers, including the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, the South Florida Sun-Sentinel, The San Diego Union-Tribune, The Miami Herald and The Dallas Morning News, have slipped more than 7 percent in daily circulation.

Publishers are blaming the decreases in the cutback in third-party copies as part of the reason for the declines. Too, publishers have been cutting back on distribution areas, finding that it is too expensive to deliver to outlying communities.

There are signs, however, that the weight of doom that has settled on newspapers in recent years may be lifting, at least slightly. Some major papers - including the St. Petersburg Times, the San Jose Mercury News, The Philadelphia Inquirer and The Philadelphia Daily News, the Orlando Sentinel, the Houston Chronicle, and The Courier-Journal in Louisville, Ky. - have seen gains or only slight decreases.
The FAS-FAX report will include the ABC’s new audience FAX, where a portion of reporting papers - about 200 - have provided not only circulation data but print readership, online readership, unduplicated market reach and monthly unique users.

The audience FAX is likely the first step in the direction of newspaper reporting that looks at total audience rather than just counting those who pay for the print publication.