Deseret News' circulation on Sundays up by 3,000

Sunday circulation of the Deseret News is up more than 3,000 readers, although Monday-through-Friday circulation is down by 425 as of March 31 of this year, compared with figures from a year ago.

An independent auditor also found The Salt Lake Tribune lost readers both on Sundays and on weekdays during that same period. The Chicago-based Audit Bureau of Circulations released data about U.S. and Canadian newspapers Monday and, on average, circulation fell 3.6 percent from the year-ago period.

On Sundays, the Deseret News had a circulation of 78,032 this year, compared to 75,022 on March 31, 2008. That's a 4.01 percent increase. On Sundays, the Tribune had 136,432 this year, down 4.79 percent from 143,297 last year.

Circulation is important to newspapers because the publications charge advertisers based on the number of readers. Circulations of newspapers have dropped across the United States and Canada as readers turn to the Internet for news.

But average circulation Mondays through Fridays dropped at both papers, which share some business operations, including advertising revenues, which means each paper is affected by the others' successes and failures. This year, the Deseret News averaged 73,391 Monday through Friday, down from last year's weekday average of 73,816. That's a 0.58 percent drop. The Tribune's circulation averaged 118,452 Monday through Friday this year, down 2.67 percent from 121,699 last year.

On Saturdays, the Deseret News had a circulation of 72,982 this year, down 1.54 percent from 74,127 last year. On Saturdays, the Tribune had a circulation of 111,566, down 4.57 percent from 116,912 last year.

Figures from the auditors showed that combined Web activity for the two Salt Lake newspapers was on the rise. The Deseret News had nearly 1.6 million unique visitors at its Web site for the year ending March 31. Web activity for the Tribune totaled more than 2.1 million. The auditors' March 2008 report did not break down circulation by newspaper but instead found that both papers had a total Web circulation of 2.7 million.

Deseret News publisher Jim Wall said that the News' circulation losses weren't too severe, considering the environment of declining circulations nationally, and the Sunday boost is encouraging. The auditors release reports in March and September, and "we think by the September audit, we'll be back to a 'plus' number," he said.

"What we're finding is, we have more loyal customers than we ever have before," Wall said. "We have more people who have taken the newspaper for two years and greater."

Tribune editor Nancy Conway did not return a message Monday.

Of the country's top 10 newspapers, only News Corp.'s Wall Street Journal increased circulation from a year earlier. Gannett Co.'s USA Today, the largest U.S. newspaper, lost 7.5 percent and the New York Post had the biggest slump with 21 percent. Publishers including New York Times Co. and Gannett have boosted newsstand or subscription prices to help offset the circulation declines.

Five publishers sought bankruptcy protection during the period, and printed versions of the Seattle Post-Intelligencer and Rocky Mountain News were halted.

Contributing: Bloomberg News

E-mail: lhancock@desnews.com