Print newspaper sales fall as more readers go online

Sally Jackson
The Australian
May 11, 2012

THE weak retail environment continued to crunch newspaper print sales in the March quarter, but audited digital circulation data, which two publishers chose to release for the first time, indicate online growth is offsetting some of the losses.

Figures issued today by the Audit Bureau of Circulations show Monday-to-Sunday print sales of national, metropolitan and regional papers dropped 5.1 per cent in the three months to the end of March compared with the previous corresponding quarter.

Regional newspapers had the biggest fall, with their combined circulation dropping 6.5 per cent.

Sales of metropolitan mastheads shrank by 5 per cent and national newspapers by 2.4 per cent.

But according to industry body The Newspaper Works, momentum towards consumption of newspapers on digital platforms surged, with Nielsen data showing more than 6 million consumers read national and metropolitan mastheads online every month.

THE Australian was the best-performing national newspaper in the three months to the end of March.

Newspaper Works chief executive Tony Hale said the fall in print newspaper sales was evidence of a still-fragile economy and told “a partial story only”.

“The robust, ongoing growth of audiences engaging with newspapers across online, mobile and tablet platforms demonstrates how effectively publishers have managed the fundamental structural changes occurring in the industry,” Mr Hale said.

News Limited chief executive Kim Williams said newspapers continued to reach more Australians than any other medium, with more than 18 million sold each week.

Roy Morgan readership figures, also released today, show print-only readership declining 4.8 per cent in the year to March 31 compared with the previous year.

Online readership again cushioned the fall, with website data for the 11 major mastheads showing a year-on-year audience increase for seven, no change for two and declines for theaustralian.com.au, which began rolling out paid subscriptions in October, and couriermail.com.au.

The Australian has reported about 40,000 paid subscribers. The other subscription website, The Australian Financial Review’s afr.com, announced yesterday that it had 15,246 at the end of March, up 4349 for the quarter.

The combined quarterly sales of the 16 audited weekly magazines fell 6.1 per cent year-on-year, but were boosted by the new inclusion of Dennis Publishing’s The Week. Like-for-like sales were down 7.4 per cent on last year.