Wednesday 25 August 2010

Oh no! It's the latest regional press ABC figures


This is getting a bit scary. Hold theFrontPage reports the latest regional newspaper ABC figures showing circulation falls across the board.
Among the dailies, the Liverpool Daily Post is down 28% to 8,389 following its repositioning as a business title. The Cambridge Evening News is down 11.9%, taking its sales to 21,997. The Western Daily Press is down 11.8 per cent at 31,809 and the Nottingham Evening Post down 11.3 % to 42,529. The Journal, Newcastle, is also down 11.3 per cent - to 28,232.
Double digit falls are also recorded by the Oldham Chronicle, The Press in York, the Glasgow Evening Times, the Chronicle, Newcastle, The Western Mail, and the South Wales Echo.
I am sure regional newspapers can point to increased audiences for their websites, but double digit declines for dailies suggests that in future more titles will have to follow the Birmingham Post and Bath Chronicle by going weekly.
  • Full listings for dailies here
  • Press Gazette says there has been some improvement for the dailies, noting the pace of decline has slowed since the depths of the recession a year ago. For example, the Liverpool Echo has improved from a 10.14 per cent drop a year ago to a 3.2 per cent drop this time around.
  • MediaGuardian has a blog by Peter Robins on the decline of regional newspaper sales over the past 20 years. He writes: "Over the past 20 years, some of Britain's regional daily newspapers have lost just under half their sales. Those are the successful ones."

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