The circulation of the daily newspapers in the US has suffered one of the sharpest declines in recent history, but according to a New York Times memo, there is nothing to worry about.
The Innovations in Newspapers blog has published a memo by Scott Heekin-Canedy, president and general manager of The New York Times, which totally plays down the 3.5% drop in circulation of the paper.
The falling sales are “a result of the strategic decision we made to focus our efforts on the paid circulation that advertisers value most”, he writes.
And he goes on to insist that the newspaper’s “strategy is, in fact, working: our individual paid circulation, a key indicator of circulation quality, remains at 87%, one of the highest in the industry”.
Paid circulation is key, so I understand the point he is making. But surely pretending everything is fine is no way to tackle the challenge of the internet and declining audiences for print.
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you will probably discover that newspapers will start using the “subscribers valued by advertisers” assertion more often. the national post in toronto used the same approach to explain why daily circulation tumbled 10% in the six months ended sept. 30. of course, it’s probably the right approach if you don’t want to spook advertisers.