U.S. daily news circulation falls

NEW YORK — Circulation declines accelerated at major U.S. newspapers for the six-month period ending in September, according to figures released Monday, in the latest sign of struggle for an industry that is continually grappling with changing reader habits.

Average paid circulation fell 2.8 percent on weekdays and 3.4 percent on Sundays, the Newspaper Association of America reported, an even worse showing than the last time figures were released in May. Then, the NAA said average weekday circulation fell 2.5 percent in the six months ending in March, while Sunday circulation fell 3.1 percent.

The figures are based on biannual publishers' statements delivered to the Audit Bureau of Circulations, a publishing industry group, and only include figures for newspapers that reported to the Audit Bureau for both comparable periods. For the latest period, 770 newspapers reported comparable weekday figures and 619 for Sunday figures.

The declines tended to be largest at major metropolitan dailies, while smaller papers and the two largest nationally circulated papers fared somewhat better. The Los Angeles Times posted the largest decline among top newspapers — 8 percent — as it continued a program started last year to sharply reduce third-party circulation such as copies distributed in hotels and schools, which advertisers generally value less than individually paid copies.

Overall U.S. newspaper circulation has been declining steadily on an annual basis since 1987, according to broader figures compiled by the NAA, as newspapers face increasing competition for readers' time from other media such as cable TV and the Internet.

The NAA's annual figures, which are derived from a larger base of newspapers than those reporting biannually to the Audit Bureau, show that average weekday circulation declined 4 percent over the five-year period ending in 2005, while Sunday circulation fell 6.5 percent, according to John Murray, the NAA's vice president of circulation marketing.

With print newspaper circulation declining and more people going to the Internet for news, newspapers have been putting more emphasis on their Web site operations, which are growing rapidly but still make up a relatively minuscule proportion of their overall revenues.

Gannett Co.'s USA Today remained the top-selling newspaper in the country during the six-month period with average paid circulation of 2,269,509, down 1.3 percent from the comparable period a year earlier.