Eugene David ...The One-Minute Pundit |
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Friday, March 17, 2006
OUCH:
The Post will not reveal circulation and ad revenue figures to Media Life, but data available elsewhere paints an alarming picture. Ad revenue is up just slightly over the past five years, to $783.5 million last year from $770.6 million in 2000, according to TNS Media Intelligence. But circulation has tumbled, falling by 137,695 for the weekday paper in the past decade, from 816,474 for the year ended Sept. 30, 1995 to 678,779 for the six-month period ended Oct. 2, 2005. That's a decline of 17 percent. That's according to numbers from the Audit Bureau of Circulations, the latter of which has not been audited yet and is based on publisher statements. If the Post must struggle to hold onto readers, other papers must be in real trouble, or so it would seem. Analyst John Morton says what the Post is experiencing is in some ways typical, the result of online publications taking a bigger bite out of print newspapers. He does not see that changing. “Generally speaking, their circulation will continue to decline,” Morton said yesterday. “I don’t know that there’s any solution.” We know this: the solution is NOT: 1. Running more show-biz plugs, 2. Devoting the whole of front pages to marshmallow stories, 3. Making the paper look more colorful than the Nawlans Mardi Gras, and 4. TELLING THE TRUTH.
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