The number one reason given for the decline in newspaper subscriptions is the "do not call" listings. The papers used to pick up an enormous amount of new ones from direct calling. Most of them have quit the business. So the call lists are working to some extent.
Merrill Lynch: In a Surprise, New Numbers Show 'Quality' Circ Still Sliding
By E&P Staff
Published: May 04, 2005 5:30 PM ET
NEW YORK In her report this week on the new Fas-Fax circulation numbers from the Audit Bureau of Circulations, Merrill Lynch analyst Lauren Rich Fine observed that circulation declines, already bad enough at some papers, looked even worse when you broke out the "50% or greater paid" category. She noted that in Q1 conference calls, many newspaper companies had indicated that they were trying to reduce the under-50% and "other paid" segments "in an effort to win advertisers over with their resulting 'quality' circulation." But some of these new Fas-Fax numbers are "seemingly in direct conflict with some company remarks," she wrote.
Of course, some argue that all legitimate circulation is "quality" and object to this label being applied to just the over-50% segment.
Merrill Lynch has compiled a chart breaking out the 50%-or-greater circulation numbers for the latest Fas-Fax period, ending March 30, listing how much those numbers have grown or slipped in the past year. In nearly every case, the declines there exceed the newspapers' overall numbers, showing that the "quality" category is still in retreat. In the sample of about 20 papers, the overall daily circulation sank only 2.4% but the 50%-or-greater category plunged 5.2%. Those losses were reduced because the 25%-to-50%-paid category soared 40.9% and other-paid grew 4.5%.
Here are the papers profiled by Merrill Lynch, followed by, first, the percentage gain or loss in over-50% daily circ and then the overall percentage for that paper in this period.
The Sacramento Bee +0.8 (+0.5)
Minneapolis Star Tribune -0.4 ( +0.3)
North County Times (Calif.) -0.4 ( -1.9)
St. Louis Post-Dispatch -0.8 (+1.2)
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel -1.4 (-0.8)
The Boston Globe -2.1 (-3.9)
The New York Times -2.2 (+0.2)
Wisconsin State Journal -2.3 (-1.6)
The Washington Post -3.8 (-2.7)
The Philadelphia Inquirer -3.9 (-3.0)
The Miami Herald -4.7 (-3.8)
Detroit Free Press -6.1 (-2.3)
Chicago Tribune -7.5 (-6.5)
Rocky Mountain News (Denver) -9.4 (-6.5)
USA Today -9.8 (+0.3)
The Wall Street Journal -9.9 ( -1.5)
Los Angeles Times -12.9 (-7.7)
New Haven (Conn.) Register -20.9 (-1.8)
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