Top Newspapers All Lose Print Circulation

The combined average newspaper circulation of the 25 largest US titles fell 14% in the year to September 2023, according to new figures obtained by Press Gazette.

The decline in combined year-on-year average circulation was the same as that seen in the 12 months to March 2023 (also 14%, although the group of titles was slightly different).

Combined average daily print circulation of the 25 biggest dailies was 2.3 million in the six months to September, compared to 2.7 million the year before, and 2.6 million in the six months to March 2023 according to data from the Alliance for Audited Media.

News Corp’s business-focused The Wall Street Journal (555,182) and The New York Times (267,639) remain the biggest dailies in the US, although their print circulations fell by 14% and 13% year-on-year respectively.

While print remains an important revenue stream, data on digital subscriptions presents a more promising picture. Many major publishers have invested in securing digital reader revenue and several titles in this ranking have built up large digital subscriber bases. The New York Times has in particular seen impressive digital subscription growth in recent years, counting 9.7 million subscribers as of December 2023, while the Wall Street Journal, which has a larger print readership than the NY Times, counted 3.5 million.

Some more locally-focused titles such as The Philadelphia Inquirer and Long Island's Newsday have also steadily built up a digital subscriber base. Newsday for example, now counts 57,000 digital subscribers. The publisher however, told Press Gazette in 2022 that it intends to hold onto print as long as possible.

The New York Post claimed third place for print circulation with an average readership of 131,217, overtaking Jeff Bezos’ Washington Post (127,724) which fell to fourth. Although the New York City News Corp tabloid saw a circulation fall of 8% compared to September 2022, this was the smallest fall among the top ten biggest titles. This makes this the second report period in a row for which The New York Post has had the smallest year-on-year circulation drop among the top ten.