Circulation of Rocky, Post down 11.9 percent

David Milstead, Rocky Mountain News

Monday, November 5, 2007

Denver's daily newspapers saw a sharp drop in circulation in the six months ending in September.

Total paid circulation at The Denver Post fell 11.9 percent to 225,390 from 255,935 last year, while the Rocky Mountain News fell 11.9 percent to 225,226 from 255,675 last year.

The Sunday Post dropped 13.5 percent to 600,229, more than 200,000 copies below its peak circulation. The Saturday Rocky declined 11.2 percent to 490,741.

The numbers were released Monday by the Audit Bureau of Circulations, an advertiser-backed group that provides assurance that newspapers' reported numbers reflect its circulation.

Nationally, circulation fell 2.6 percent at major daily newspapers. For the 609 newspapers reporting Sunday figures, Sunday circulation fell 3.5 percent.

USA Today kept its place as the largest daily paper in the country, chalking up a 1 percent gain in circulation to 2,293,137. The Wall Street Journal remained No. 2 in average total paid daily circulation, with 2,011,882, down 1.53 percent. The New York Times was No. 3 at 1,037,828, a decline of 4.5 percent.

The Los Angeles Times saw circulation edge up 0.5 percent in the latest period to 779,682. Among larger papers, the only other major daily reporting gains was The Philadelphia Inquirer, which clocked a 2.3 percent gain to 338,260, making it the 16th-largest paper by circulation.

Part of the Denver decline reflects a decision by the Denver Newspaper Agency to dramatically cut back on what are called "third-party sales." These copies are paid for by advertisers and dropped on the steps of non-subscribers.

Bill Reynolds, senior vice president for circulation, said in a statement the agency "decided earlier this year to sharply reduce the expensive practice in favor of core print and audience development."

Many major papers cut back on their third-party sales in previous periods, absorbing large circulation declines before the the Denver dailies did.

Reynolds also noted a price increase for single copies and the agency's decision to cut back on "bonus days," free papers delivered to current customers that can be counted as paid circulation.

A count of circulation that eliminates all discounted sales showed Post circulation dropping 9.1 percent, to 184,874 copies; the Rocky dropping 7.4 percent, to 197,773 copies; the Sunday Post falling 7.2 percent to 493,939 copies; and the Saturday Rocky dropping 0.5 percent to 430,667 copies.

The circulation figures show the continuing shift of readers from the paid print product to newspaper Web sites. To reflect that, the audit bureau has introduced a new audited "audience" figure compiled by Scarborough Research.

The Denver papers report a local "total net audience" of 1,677,231 in the local television market and an audience of 1,363,093 in the area it designates as where it sells its ads. Readers who read both the print and Web site are counted as one person.

The audience numbers provide what industry executives call a "common currency" to compare newspapers' reach to television and radio, which sell ads based on audience numbers.

In a statement, the agency said the combined print and web audience of the two papers "has reached an all-time high" of 7.2 million. The figure counts single readers of multiple products, including various advertising Web sites, multiple times to arrive at a number larger than Colorado's population. For example, if one person read both newspapers and both Web sites during the period, they would count as four.

"These latest measurements show we're not only increasing our customer base, but we're giving our products to audiences in a format of their choosing," said Harry Whipple, president and CEO of the agency.

Cincinnati-based E.W. Scripps, the owner of the Rocky, and Denver-based MediaNews Group, the owner of the Post, are 50-50 partners in the agency, which handles the business operations of the newspapers. The newsrooms remain separate and competitive and are funded by their respective owners.

Finance Editor David Milstead can be reached at milstead@RockyMountainNews.com or 303-954-2648.