WSJ readership up 20% since Murdoch purchase

Love Rupert Murdoch or hate him, you have to admit the man knows how to boost an audience. Readership of The Wall Street Journal is up 20% since Rupert bought it back in 2007. Since that time, the WSJ has become smaller and, IMHO, fluffier. But the recipe seems to be working. By comparison, Editor and Publisher writes, The New York Times audience has stayed flat in that time period. The Times is still the overall leader – 4.4% of the people in U.S. read it, compared with WSJ’s 3% of the 80 markets it serves. Still, the gains are impressive at a time when newspaper audiences are declining. At a recent meeting, a PR pro came up to me and asked me if the new Wall Street Journal section that covers New York would be a Times killer. “No,” I said flatly. Now I’m wondering. (via Romanesko)