Taking advantage of a new industry policy that lets newspapers count online subscriptions, the Wall Street Journal on Monday reported a stunning 16.1 percent average circulation gain for the six months ending in September.
For the first time, the Journal counted its 290,000 online subscribers. Without the influx, the nation’s No. 2 paper would have been in the same boat as most of the industry, which reported little if any growth to the Audit Bureau of Circulations.
The Journal’s print circulation remained at 1.8 million, second behind Gannett Co. Inc.’s USA Today, where paid copies were up 0.7 percent, to 2.2 million, compared with a year ago.
According to the Newspaper Association of America’s analysis of the preliminary audit figures, average daily circulation among newspapers nationwide grew 0.2 percent. Average Sunday circulation fell 0.4 percent.
The results were surprising, coming in a period when the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq drew millions to watch events on TV.
Among the nation’s top newspapers, results were mixed.
The third-largest paper, The New York Times, saw a 0.5 percent increase in daily circulation, to 1.1 million.
The No. 4 Los Angeles Times, owned by Chicago-based Tribune Co., and the No. 5 Washington Post recorded daily declines of 1.1 percent and 1.9 percent, respectively.
Besides the Journal, the two big papers recording the largest daily gains were the No. 6 New York Daily News, which grew 2.1 percent, to 729,124; and the No. 7 New York Post, which grew 10.6 percent, to 652,426, eclipsing the Chicago Tribune on Mondays and Tuesdays.
The Tribune, which reports circulation numbers differently, recorded a 0.4 percent decrease for Monday and Tuesday editions, to 512,455. Wednesday-through-Friday circulation increased 0.2 percent, to 680,879. Sunday circulation dropped 1 percent, to slightly more than 1 million copies.
The Tribune’s daily numbers included about 9,000 paid copies of its RedEye tabloid edition, launched last fall.
Hollinger International Inc.’s Chicago Sun-Times saw a 0.5 percent increase in Monday-through-Friday circulation, to 481,798, and a 0.4 percent increase Sunday, to 372,527.
The Daily Herald reported 150,364 daily and 152,788 Sunday copies, both 0.3 percent increases.
