The Wall Street Journal remains the top-selling US daily newspaper, but The New York Times has surpassed USA Today for second, thanks to an expansion into digital subscriptions, new figures show.
The Journal’s weekday circulation averaged 2.38 million from October through March, the period covered by the report from the Alliance for Audited Media (AAM). That was a 12 per cent increase from the same period a year ago, the AAM said.
Most of the growth came in digital subscriptions, which accounted for nearly 900,000, or 40 per cent, of the total circulation at the newspaper, which is owned by News Corp.
The New York Times began charging for unlimited access to its heavily trafficked website two years ago. The move has helped boost its paid circulation by reeling in more subscribers who are willing to pay for unlimited digital access the newspaper’s content.
The Times’ weekday circulation averaged 1.87 million during the latest period, an 18 per cent increase from last year. The figure included digital circulation of 1.13 million, a 32 per cent increase from last year.
AAM’s rules allow publications to count as multiple subscriptions the same person’s paid usage on multiple outlets, such as a paper newspaper, a website and a tablet computer.
AAM’s methods for tracking circulation have changed in the past few years as newspaper publishers attempt to counter a decline in paid readership of their print editions and an even sharper drop in the advertising sales that bring in most of the industry’s revenue.
One of the biggest changes has occurred on the internet and on mobile devices, where newspapers are increasingly requiring readers to pay a fee to gain unlimited access to digital content that was once free. The AAM includes paid digital subscriptions and so-called branded editions -regional versions of newspapers or those tailored for commuters- in its circulation tally.
Digital subscriptions now account for 19 per cent of average US daily newspaper circulation, up from 14 per cent last year, the AAM said.
Overall, the average daily circulation at the 593 US newspapers that submitted figures to AAM declined by 0.7 per cent from March 2012.
The AAM cautioned against comparing the industry’s overall numbers with the previous year because of the different ways newspapers have been delivering and selling editions. Some newspapers, for instance, have reduced the number of weekdays that they deliver print editions. Other newspapers are listing branded editions that weren’t counted in past years, according to the AAM.
In what was then a break from the industry’s practice, The Wall Street Journal began charging for online access to its business-oriented newspaper during the 1990s. That move helped The Journal leapfrog USA Today as the largest US newspaper in 2009.
