Dayton Daily News circulation declines — when looked at for a full year from September 2008 to September 2009 — aren’t nearly as severe.
Sunday circulation for the Dayton Daily News is 146,938, down 3.92 percent for the year. Daily circulation is 103,309, down 6.75 percent for the year.
The Plain Dealer in Cleveland’s daily numbers were down 11.2 percent to 271,180 for the six months ending in September, while Sunday was down 4.9 percent to 411,058.
Publishers have been purposely pulling back on certain types of circulation including hotel, employee and third party sponsored copies. No longer are they distributing newspapers to the outer reaches of the core market. The cost of delivery and the cost of materials have forced publishers to scale back.
Another shift has occurred: volume has taken a back seat to dollars.
Several major newspapers across the country have aggressively hiked prices of single copy and home-delivered papers in search of circulation revenue and a renewed focus on loyal readers. Circulation is guaranteed to go down as prices go up but publishers have opted to wring more revenue from readers as advertisers keep their coffers closed.
Several newspapers companies reported that circulation revenue is one the rise. In the third quarter, circulation revenue grew 6.7 percent at McClatchy, 11 percent at Media General, and 6.7 percent at The New York Times Co.
A.H. Belo raised home-delivered subscription prices from $21 to $30 on May 1 at its flagship. Daily circulation at The Dallas Morning News dropped 20.8 percent and 15.5 percent on Sunday but executives attributed about 40 percent of home-delivered loss to the price rate increase. The company also trimmed back circulation in other areas as well.