More bad news for the AJC
April 30, 2007 at 12:45 pm by John F. Sugg in NewsI wrote last week that an industry source predicted that nationwide newspaper circulation numbers would show a 5 percent decline for the Atlanta Journal-Constitution’s Sunday edition. The source was a little optimistic.
The actual Sunday loss was 6.7 percent, declining to 523,687, according to the Audit Bureau of Circulations.
Meanwhile, daily circulation fell 2 percent, to 357,399.
When the AJC reports this, it will be with the explanation that most dailies saw plunging circulation, and that’s true. The smoke screen of explanation by the newspapers is that all of these weird things have conspired to starve them of readers, things like the Internet. What they won’t admit — especially over at the AJC — is that for years they have slashed news staffs and dumbed down their publications. Savvy readers have left.
Don’t expect the AJC to give you historical perspective. Nineteen years ago (the earliest I could dig up complete records), the combined daily circulation of Atlanta’s then two newspapers was 458,700. The Sunday edition was 650,500.
That’s a 22 percent loss for daily, 19.5 percent for Sunday. Meanwhile, from 1990 to 2006, the Atlanta metro area has added more than 2 million people, an increase of more than 67 percent. Thus, the AJC has gone from reaching about 1 in 6 potential subscribers to 1 in 14.
If you’re an advertiser, the AJC likely refers to you as “Hello, sucker.” The more circulation that vaporizes, the higher the advertising rates go (the opposite of what logic would indicate). For the billionaire Cox family owners, lost circulation is a plus. They spend less publishing the newspaper.
April 30th, 2007 at 2:23 pm
Even more bad news for the AJC:
Those numbers I cite above don’t included circulation cutbacks announced by the paper, in essence pulling out of vast swaths of South Georgia where the newspaper once was supreme.
April 30th, 2007 at 5:42 pm
Just driving by the Atlanta Business Chronicle’s posh headquarters, in what must be the priciest real estate in town, reminded me to ask a question… any word on their circulation stats?
April 30th, 2007 at 5:47 pm
SpaceyG: Good point. I keep forgetting to pick that up when I pass by, but I recall it being a good read (if focused on business).
May 1st, 2007 at 5:10 pm
SpaceyG, The circulationsfor publications such as the Business Chronicle and Fulton Report aren’t large, and aren’t intended to be. These are biz to biz publications, with highly targeted niche audiences. If you’re an advertiser that needs to reach business decision-makers, so the logic goes, you’ll pay a premium to be in such publications. I’d guess the Chronicle circ is less than 20K and the Report is about 5K.