Sun Readership Up as Circulation Declines Slow

Sun Issues Correction to ABC FAS-Fax Release 


BALTIMORE, May 8  /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Even as the latest Audit Bureau of Circulations FAS-FAX release showed The Sun's recent circulation declines slowing, new research shows the paper's readership actually growing.  The March ABC Publisher's Statement shows Sun overall daily (Monday - Friday average) circulation down about 3% and Sunday down about 6.6%, largely reflecting the newspaper's continued reduction of bulk or third-party sponsored distribution.  (A mistake in ABC's original release this morning erroneously reported that The Sun's daily circulation was down 9.3%.)

For the reporting period that ended March 30, 2006, The Sun reported overall average daily circulation (Monday through Friday) of 236,317, down from 243,737 in March 2005.  Average Sunday circulation was 401,918, down from 430,675 a year ago.

But the Sun circulation most valued by advertisers, individually paid circulation (home delivery plus single copy), was essentially flat for the reporting period, dropping just 1.2% daily and 1.8% Sunday.  In addition, the latest data from the Baltimore Sun's consumer tracking study -- which measures daily newspaper readership by asking market adults "Did you read The Sun in the last week?" -- shows a gain of approximately 100,000 in the paper's weekly readership since the last time the survey was conducted in October 2005.

"While total circulation of The Sun is slightly lower, clearly the paper is getting into the hands of more people who are reading it," says Baltimore Sun Vice President of Circulation Louis Maranto.  "We believe the improvement reflects the increased volume of state and county news, as well as readers' growing levels of comfort with the redesign we introduced last fall.  The growth in readership combined with the slowing of individually paid circulation declines validates our decision to reduce our bulk distribution and focus on getting the paper into the hands of people who are actively seeking it out."

The Baltimore Sun is Maryland's leading news and information company, reaching more than 1.2 million readers and more than 75% of market adults every week.  Founded in 1837 and acquired in 2000 by Tribune, the company publishes The Sun, baltimoresun.com, the Patuxent and Homestead community newspapers and multiple niche print and online publications. 

DATASOURCE: The Baltimore Sun



CONTACT:  Linda Geeson of The Baltimore Sun, [phone],

 



Web site:  http:/ baltimoresun.com 

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