Newspaper circulation is growing

David Johnson February 13th, 2007

Seriously. If you go by new numbers released by the World Association of Newspapers, readership of print newspapers is at an all time high. Here’s the lowdown:

      - Global circ up 9.95 percent over five years and 2.36 percent over twelve months
      - Daily newspaper titles surpass 10,000 for first time in history
      - More than 450 million copies sold daily
      - In excess of 1.4 billion paid-newspaper readers
      - Total free daily circulation more than doubles in five years

Now, that’s worldwide. In North America, numbers are still up but lower than the global figures: Newspaper circulation increased 0.7 percent over five years, and marginally declined 0.04 percent over one year. The number of titles declined 0.84 percent over five years but increased 1.21 percent over one year. With all the focus on digital, analysts at the Paris-based WAN say that we’re overlooking the incredible innovation and diversification that is going on industry-wide.

2 Comments Add your own

  • 1. thedetroitchannel  |  February 13th, 2007 at 8:22 am

    there are 4 copies of the detroit free press laying out on my front porch from last week’s “free trial” which i never asked for.

    it’s an insult that they took the liberty to leave them there without asking.

    i’m waiting for them to come and pick them up.

    i did read a little blurb on the plastic sleeve when grabbing my mail the other day, it went something like “remember, you are what you read”.

    to which i thought: why would i want to read the paper then; i’d be day old news!

  • 2. Chris  |  February 13th, 2007 at 11:34 am

    I find this hard to believe, quite honestly. The past few years have been BRUTAL for almostall print newspapers, form the NY Times to the LA Times. Layoffs, circulation cuts, making the papers smaller…..either these numbers are skewed, or they’re taking online/free papers into account, or there’s some other statistical filtering going on by what sounds like a public relations group.

    Chris

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