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Sheila Owens
NAA VP of Strategic Communications
(571) 366-1089
Sheila.Owens@.naa.org

November 07, 2005

Vienna, Va. – An analysis by the Newspaper Association of America finds that the total combined circulation of the top 50 newspapers represents only about one-third (35 percent) of the total daily newspaper audience, and about 37 percent of the total Sunday audience. The analysis is based on the latest Fas-Fax data from the Audit Bureau of Circulations and from the Newspaper Audience Database ( NADbase ).

“When you look at newspaper readership and circulation, it’s not one versus the other. Both are important, valid measures that advertisers look to for an accurate measure of newspapers’ reach,” NAA President and CEO John F. Sturm said. “In this fragmented media market, true comparability between different media demands an increased focus on total audience, and by providing readership data with circulation data, newspapers are able to demonstrate their effectiveness relative to other media.”

NADbase, released last month, is a source of detailed newspaper audience demographic data, reporting newspaper readership and Web site usage for 100-plus newspapers representing most major markets. The NADbase is part of the industry’s ongoing effort to respond to advertisers’ needs for measurement data that reflects newspapers’ true reach and audience, and today’s data serves as a complement to NAA’s customary Fas-Fax report. A list of the top 50 papers, along with their corresponding circulation and readership figures is available on www.naa.org/nadbase/top50reporting.html.

For the six-month period ending September 30, 2005, NAA’s Fas-Fax analysis of circulation data also reveals the average daily circulation for all 789 newspapers reporting for comparable periods was 45,153,192, a decrease of 2.6 percent (from 46,347,669) over the same period a year ago. On Sunday, the average circulation for the 627 newspapers reporting for comparable periods was 49,394,406, a decrease of 3.1 percent (from 50,988,079) over the same period a year ago.

“Newspapers have been focusing their marketing efforts on growing readers in ways that deliver the most value to advertisers and make economic sense,” Sturm said. “As we’ve seen in our 2005 ‘Circulation Facts, Figures, and Logic’ report, publishers are continuing to develop strategies that reduce subscriber attrition, including better targeting of subscription sales efforts, and better follow-up after the sale. The publisher focus is also on total audience and this includes building readership of new audiences with launches of free local dailies, ethnic products, and online properties.” (Examples on net reach with print and newspaper Web sites.)

Data for NADbase is provided by Scarborough, a leading media/market research firm, measures 75 DMAs (including the top 50). Scarborough collects data via telephone interview and a mailed consumer survey booklet and seven-day TV diary.

Scarborough collected fieldwork for Release One from February 2004 through March 2005. In its Fas-Fax analysis, NAA uses the same methodology to analyze ABC’s audited figures for each reporting period. Newspapers that do not report circulation in the current period are not included in the analysis (and their circulation numbers are omitted from that period a year earlier.)

NAA is a nonprofit organization representing the $59 billion newspaper industry and more than 2,000 newspapers in the U.S. and Canada. Most NAA members are daily newspapers, accounting for 87 percent of the U.S. daily circulation. Headquartered in Tysons Corner (Vienna, Va.), the Association focuses on six key strategic priorities that affect the newspaper industry collectively: marketing, public policy, diversity, industry development, newspaper operations and readership. Information about NAA and the industry may also be found at www.naa.org.

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