Gannett Co.'s (GCI) USA Today remained the top newspaper by
total average daily circulation, which includes digital readers,
while News Corp's (NWSA, NWS) The Wall Street Journal continued to
have the largest print circulation, according to a data tracker
Thursday.
The continued shift by readers to electronic devices and away
from print is not only forcing newspapers to change how they
present the news but also prompting auditors to alter how they
calculate a paper's audience.
The Alliance for Audited Media said changes to how it tabulates
readers make its figures for the six months ended March 31,
released Thursday, not comparable with its past data. More changes
are on the way, the alliance said, as the September report would be
the last of its kind, with more frequent reports expected in the
future.
Through March, the top three U.S. newspapers remained USA Today,
The Wall Street Journal and the New York Times.
USA Today had a total daily average circulation of 3.3 million,
the alliance said. The print edition count comprised roughly 1.2
million, or about 36% of the total circulation. USA Today--which
doesn't charge for access to its website or mobile
applications--began including digital readers for the first time
last year, giving the paper's overall tally a significant
boost.
The Wall Street Journal reported a total average circulation of
2.3 million. The print edition comprised 1.4 million, or 59% of the
total. In addition to The Journal, News Corp also owns this
newswire.
New York Times' total circulation was 2.2 million with print
circulation of 680,905, or 32% of the total.
Both The Wall Street Journal and New York Times have "paywalls"
that limit non-subscribers' access to their digital editions. The
alliance has said that newspapers may include digital editions,
tablet or smartphone apps, PDF replicas and e-reader editions in
their total circulation.
The alliance's latest report included 610 U.S. newspapers, with
nearly half of them reporting a Monday-to-Friday average, and 531
of them reporting digital editions. The group stopped requiring
daily newspapers with circulations of more than 50,000 to provide
five-day-average figures last year.
Write to Tess Stynes at tess.stynes@wsj.com
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