Digital circulation up 63% for US newspapers

The semi-annual numbers are out from the Audit Bureau of Circulations, marking the first time we have year-over-year comparables since the ABC changed its digital reporting guidelines.

This used to be a fairly easy affair — you looked at the charts and you could see winners and losers at a glance. It’s not that easy now, however, since the agency’s efforts to measure total circulation in these complicated times altered the field. The ABC even includes a warning “against drawing too many direct comparisons of the data in today’s FAS-FAX report.” The ABC rule changes make it easier for newspapers to break their circulation into recognizable, meaningful categories that can be audited, for instance, counting all digital circulation instead of limiting it to replica editions. They recognize that the same information can be delivered in different ways but still needs to be verified for marketers. Some top-line numbers for the six-month period ending March 31, 2012:
Digital circulation now accounts for 14.2 percent of newspapers’ total circulation mix; up 63 percent from 8.66 percent in March 2011. That includes tablet or smartphone apps, replica editions, metered or restricted-access websites, and e-reader editions.

That’s the same percent increase as the report covering the reporting period that ended in September.

• Average daily circulation was up .68 percent; that covers 628 papers.
• Average Sunday circulation was up 5 percent; that covers 532 papers.