Circulation throughout the newspaper industry fell again, its decline over the past six months rivaling some previous record drops. Blame the Internet and its growth for the deep hurting felt throughout print newsrooms across the US.
“I watched him for fifteen years, sitting in a room, staring at a wall, not seeing the wall, looking past the wall – looking at this night, inhumanly patient, waiting for some secret, silent alarm to trigger him off. Death has come to your little town, Sheriff.”
— Michael Myers stops by newsrooms everywhere to spread some Halloween fear
Enough people have done so to contribute to a 2.8 percent circulation drop for 770 daily newspapers. A Bloomberg report cited numbers from the Audit Bureau of Circulations for the six months ending September 30th.
Circulation ties directly to advertising rates. Higher circulations mean premium rates can be charged. As audited circulation drops, newspapers have to cut back, resulting in layoffs and reduced coverage. It’s a vicious cycle.
Blame this Halloween massacre on the Web. People have grown accustomed to finding the news they want when they want it. Breaking stories have not demonstrated any consideration of the daily print schedule; they happen when they happen, and readers want to know about it when they do.
Advertisers have figured that out as well. They want to follow their audience, and like those readers have turned to the Internet. Newspapers have been trying to figure this out and repurpose their ad packages to include online exposure.
“Online is about getting and consuming information efficiently,” Greg Sterling wrote at his Screenwerk blog. “Print is more of what I’d call an ‘aesthetic experience.'”
Despite the aesthetics, Sterling noted he planned to drop his Sunday New York Times subscription. “Why? Because I just don’t have time to go through the print paper anymore – even though it’s far superior to reading it online,” he said.
“The reality is newspapers are just being squeezed by a new medium,” wrote blogger Mark Evans. “The challenge for newspapers is adjusting their operating and economic models to account for more competition for the attention of advertisers and readers.”
Editor & Publisher noted these adjustments have been taking place. Newspapers have been focusing on “tighter geographic areas,” but none of the non-Internet reasons “can mask that more people are migrating away from print and to the Web.”
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David Utter is a staff writer for Murdok covering technology and business.
