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Print Newspaper Circulation Drops, Online Readers Increase

While newspaper circulation dropped 2.5 percent in the six-month period ending in March, newspaper websites had an eight percent increase in viewers for the first quarter of 2006, according to the Newspaper Association of America’s analysis of data released yesterday by the Audit Bureau of Circulations, writes Yahoo.

Also, data from Nielsen/NetRatings found that an average 56 million people used newspaper websites in the period, representing 37 percent of all online access for the period, said the NAA.

The Audit Bureau data found that USA Today continued as the top-selling newspaper with 2,272,815 copies, a 0.09 percent increase over the same period last year. The Wall Street Journal followed in second with 2,049,786 copies, dropping 1 percent.

The New York Times and Chicago Tribune saw circulation gains of 0.5 percent and 0.9 percent respectively. However, circulations dropped for the San Francisco Chronicle (15.6 percent), The Boston Globe (8.5 percent), the Los Angeles Times (5.4 percent) and The Washington Post (3.7 percent).