Pew reports on newspaper circulation

The Pew Research Center has released its latest fact sheet on the newspaper industry.

Estimated U.S. daily newspaper circulation (print and digital) in 2017 was 31 million for weekday and 34 million for Sunday, a drop of 11 percent and 10 percent, respectively, from the previous year, the report says.

The drop was most pronounced in print circulation: Weekday print circulation decreased 11 percent and Sunday circulation decreased 10 percent.

Digital circulation is harder to determine, Pew says, citing reporting practices. Using AAM data, digital circulation in 2017 was projected to have fallen, with weekday and Sunday both down 9 percent and Sunday down 9 percent as well, Pew says. Independent reports from The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal, however, say both companies saw major rises in digital circulation in the past year: 42 percent for the Times and 26 percent for the Journal, along with rises in 2016. If these independent figures are included in both 2016 and 2017, weekday digital circulation would be up by 10 percent.

This would also change the figures for combined print and digital circulation. Including the independent Times and WSJ numbers would still mean an overall drop in circulation year-over-year, but a less significant one: Overall weekday circulation would have dropped by 4 percent in 2017 rather than 11 percent, Pew says.

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