The Dallas Morning News Releases Latest Circulation Figures; Results Speak to Quality of Content and Support Premium Pricing Str

DALLAS, April 27  /PRNewswire/ -- The Dallas Morning News, on April 15, 2009, filed with the Audit Bureau of Circulations (ABC), subject to audit, a Publisher's Statement for the six-month period ended March 31, 2009. The newspaper increased prices 100% in single-copy daily, 33% in Sunday and 17% in home subscriptions compared to the same period one year ago. Daily circulation in the same period was 331,907 and 474,923 for Sunday, representing a reduction of 9.9% and 8.7%, respectively, compared with the six-month period ended March 31, 2008.

The Dallas Morning News has maintained its emphasis on driving quality subscriber audiences to benefit advertisers. "We are placing even greater emphasis on home-delivered circulation," said John McKeon, president and general manager. Daily home delivery paid at 50% or more is 99.8% of daily home delivery, an increase of 2.8% from one year ago.  Despite an increase of 17% in subscription price, home delivered circulation sold at greater than 50% of full price declined only 0.5% for Sunday and 3.2% for daily. "These results speak to the value our readers place on the quality of our content. And they confirm the value of our premium pricing strategy and the quality of the audience it delivers to our advertisers," said McKeon. "An indicator of reader engagement and satisfaction is the more than 33% of subscribers who pay using our automatic credit card renewal feature, EZ Pay, which is one of the highest rates among major metro markets," he said.

The News continues to focus its resources to deliver the best targeting vehicles for advertisers. "With the combination of our aggressive emphasis on serving our core audience in The Dallas Morning News and continued investment in our portfolio of targeted print and on-line solutions, we are improving the value proposition for advertisers," said Jim Moroney, publisher of The Dallas Morning News. "We will continue our strategy to rebalance our business model, asking readers to share a greater portion of the cost of our printed product, which in turn supports the quality of our journalism. This is a strategic advantage that must be maintained."

About The Dallas Morning News

Established in 1885, The Dallas Morning News (dallasnews.com) is Texas' leading newspaper and serves a readership of more than 1.5 million. The newspaper has received eight Pulitzer Prizes since 1986, as well as numerous other industry awards recognizing the quality of its investigative and feature journalism, design and photojournalism. In 2005, The News received the Scripps Howard Foundation National Journalism Award for its editorial series calling for mandatory record votes in the Texas legislature, and its Web site, dallasnews.com, also was honored for Web reporting. In 2003, the paper launched the leading Spanish-language daily in North Texas, Al Dia; the standard-setting free entertainment tabloid, Quick; and the nation's first editorial blog. In 2008, the paper launched the free, home-delivered quick-read, Briefing. The Dallas Morning News is the flagship newspaper subsidiary of A. H. Belo Corporation.

About A. H. Belo Corporation

A. H. Belo Corporation (NYSE:AHC) headquartered in Dallas, Texas, is a distinguished newspaper publishing and local news and information company that owns and operates four daily newspapers and a diverse group of Web sites.  A. H. Belo publishes The Dallas Morning News, Texas' leading newspaper and winner of eight Pulitzer Prizes since 1986;  The Providence Journal, the oldest continuously-published daily newspaper in the U.S. and winner of four Pulitzer Prizes; The Press-Enterprise (Riverside, CA), serving southern California's Inland Empire region and winner of one Pulitzer Prize; and the Denton Record-Chronicle.  The Company publishes various specialty publications targeting niche audiences, and its partnerships and/or investments include the Yahoo! Newspaper Consortium and Classified Ventures, owner of cars.com.  A. H. Belo also owns direct mail and commercial printing businesses. Additional information is available at http://www.ahbelo.com/. 

DATASOURCE: The Dallas Morning News



CONTACT:  Stephanie Hoefken, [phone],

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Web Site:  http://www.dallasnews.com/

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