ABCs: Newspapers continue print decline
The decline of print newspapers has continued with the latest circulation numbers once again showing significant year-on-year drops for Fairfax Media and News Corp Australia, despite a recent major marketing push by the two publishers to lift sales.
According to figures released today by the Audit Bureau of Circulations, weekday sales of The Sydney Morning Herald fell 17 per cent to 141,699 from 170,666 for the same period last year and The Age went down 16.2 per cent from 169,582 to 142,050. The drop for each title comes despite the shift to a tabloid or “compact” format in March which was supported by one of the company’s biggest marketing pushes in recent history.
Comparing the second quarter of 2013 to the first quarter, the Herald’s weekday circulation fell 4.2 per cent to 141,699 compared with 148,037. The Age’s weekday edition also fell 1.5 per cent to 142,050 compared with 144,277 in the first quarter of the year.
In a statement, Fairfax said it was pleased with the overall result of the shift to a compact format. “The compact versions of The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age pack a punch. Our readers love them,” said Allen Williams, managing director of Fairfax’s publishing division, Australian Publishing Media. The weekend editions have also fared badly with the Saturday edition of the Herald down 20.2 per cent to 233,335 compared to the same period last year while the stable’s Sydney Sunday paper the Sun-Herald is down 20.4 per cent to 276,172.
This would surely be disappointing for both Fairfax & News, although it will be interesting to see the full readership figures (print & digital) post-paywalls… I’m guessing this is what Emma will provide? These figures are likely to be more positive for the SMH considering its website is one of the most popular, while the Daily Tele normally doesn’t even make it into the top 10.
It’s also worth noting that the Tele’s advertising campaign was far larger than the Fairfax campaign. It has been running pretty consistently for the last 2 years with significant spend particularly on outdoor advertising, not counting the more recent bus stop ads & News Plus campaign. In that context, the double digit falls look worse
They try to give away a copy of the Tele at the local tavern if you buy a cup of coffee. Do these count as “sales”? There’s always a pile of them left each day.
Curious absence of digital soin from Fairfax. Paywalls no good? And nothing at all on the afr.com paid subs that they keep claiming huge numbers for??
People are getting sick of the false gossip and hateful smut against women (Zoo Weekly). The news is showing women getting raped and murdered every day and this magazine supports this treatment of women. The women who pose and contribute to these magazine are too stupid to see the harm it is having on society, they just see the attention they are getting for their 15 seconds of fame and not seeing the big picture. And while men can sit on the internet and see all the naked women by the millions why pay for it.
Gee Fairfax tops the fallers during the week and on weekends. Maybe the old editor they got rid of in 2012 is washing through
Ann – don’t forget that Fairfax is starting from a smaller base, with the Murdoch mass market tabloids always having the higher circ figures. So while the percentage of Fairfax loss is higher, the actual readers lost is lower ie. Mon-Fri Daily Tele lost around 40,000 while Mon-Fri SMH lost 30,000