One only has to look at the attrition of the print advertising revenue of America’s publicly traded newspaper companies to see the extent to which the newspaper industry has shrunk. Another, more specific measure, just as startling, is the paid print circulation of America’s 100 largest newspapers based on the same measure. This number has dropped by over a quarter at many papers in as little as three years.
The circulation drops are often due to strategic decisions by newspaper companies. Managements do not want to maintain the expense to print and ship papers well outside their home cities, which is an expensive distribution model. In other cases, media companies drop people who pay very little for the paper. Only subscribers who pay enough to be profitable customers remain. Papers in some cities, like Detroit, are no longer printed seven days a week. In each of these models, the plan is to cut the cost of their print circulation operations to either lower losses or make very modest profits.
The fallout of the slow destruction of the industry has been born to a substantial extent by four companies, which own the largest number of America’s top 100 papers based on combined paid print and paid digital circulation. These include Tronc Inc. (NASDAQ: TRNC), formerly known as Tribune Publishing, which owns papers in some of the largest cities in America. The Los Angeles Times and the Chicago Tribune are the dailies in America’s second and third largest cities.
Tronc was recently a takeover target of Gannett Co. Inc. (NYSE: GCI), the largest newspaper chain by the total paid circulation of its papers. Gannett does not own a large number of newspapers in America’s largest cities, but, by total newspaper count, it makes up for that. The biggest paper Gannett owns, the Record in New Jersey, it bought recently.
Another of the largest four largest publishers is debt-crippled McClatchy Co. (NYSE: MNI). With a debt load of nearly $1 billion, it can barely pay the service on the debt compared to the amount of its operating income. McClatchy’s largest papers are in Fort Worth and Miami.
Finally, privately held Digital First Media has a profit and loss statement that is hard to obtain because the company does not have to disclose it.
The only paper that currently has a paid circulation model that works extremely well is The New York Times, which had a recent surge in its total. At the end of the third quarter, New York Times Co. (NYSE: NYT) had 1,557,000 digital-only subscribers. According to the company, it added 132,000 paid subscribers between the election and the end of November. Presumably a large portion of these were digital.
Newspaper ownership among the largest properties falls primarily into four categories. The first is those owned by the large public corporations. The second are those controlled by private companies, the largest of which is the aforementioned Digital First Media, owned by private equity firm Alden Capital, Hearst. Advance Publications is another. It is controlled by the Newhouse family. The third model is papers owned by extremely rich individuals. The most well-known of these is the Washington Post, controlled by Jeff Bezos, the billionaire founder of Amazon.com. Another is the struggling New York Daily News, owned by real estate tycoon Mort Zuckerman. Hedge fund manager executive John Henry is the principal owner of the Boston Globe. The final model is papers owned by nonprofit enterprises. These include the Tampa Bay Times and Philadelphia Inquirer.
Below are the 100 largest newspapers in the United States based on combined print and digital paid subscriptions. Circulation data was provided by the Alliance for Audited Media and is for the third quarter of 2015. Circulation is the five-day average for publications that are published Monday through Friday. The list only compares newspapers that report this five-day average. To be included in total circulation figures, digital subscriptions must be restricted access and comply with AAM standards. Circulation figures also include affiliate publications as grouped by the AAM.
| Rank | Newspaper | Owner | Circulation |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | New York Times | New York Times Company | 2,237,601 |
| 2 | Long Island Newsday | Patrick Dolan and Charles Dolan | 512,118 |
| 3 | Los Angeles Times | tronc, Inc. | 507,395 |
| 4 | New York Post | News Corp. | 424,721 |
| 5 | Dallas Morning News | A. H. Belo Corp. | 410,587 |
| 6 | Chicago Tribune | tronc, Inc. | 384,962 |
| 7 | Washington Post | Nash Holdings, LLC | 356,768 |
| 8 | Daily News (New York) | Mortimer Zuckerman | 299,538 |
| 9 | Amnewyork | Patrick Dolan and Charles Dolan | 291,991 |
| 10 | Star Tribune (Minneapolis) | Glen Taylor | 285,129 |
| 11 | Houston Chronicle | Hearst Corp. | 276,445 |
| 12 | Austin American | Cox Enterprises | 246,963 |
| 13 | Tampa Bay Times | Poynter Institute | 245,042 |
| 14 | Honolulu Star-Advertiser | Black Press Group Ltd. | 243,376 |
| 15 | The Record (Woodland Park, NJ) | Gannett Co. | 242,567 |
| 16 | Boston Globe | John W. Henry | 232,546 |
| 17 | Las Vegas Review-Journal | News + Media Capital Group LLC (Sheldon Adelson) | 232,372 |
| 18 | Philadelphia Inquirer | Interstate General Media | 227,245 |
| 19 | Fort Worth Star-Telegram | McClatchy Co. | 215,476 |
| 20 | The Denver Post / The Sunday Denver Post | Daily First Media | 196,286 |
| 21 | Arizona Republic | Gannett Co. | 188,467 |
| 22 | Metro New York | Seabay Media Holdings LLC | 180,866 |
| 23 | El Vocero De Puerto Rico | Publi-Inversiones | 179,761 |
| 24 | The Star-Ledger (Newark) | Advance Publications, Inc. | 170,077 |
| 25 | San Francisco Chronicle | Hearst Corp. | 167,602 |
| 26 | Columbus Dispatch | New Media Investment Group | 164,995 |
| 27 | Tribune Review (Pittsburgh) | Trib Total Media | 161,665 |
| 28 | The Palm Beach Post | Cox Enterprises | 160,299 |
| 29 | San Antonio Express-News | Hearst Corp. | 158,986 |
| 30 | Milwaukee Journal Sentinel | Gannett Co. | 154,763 |
| 31 | El Nuevo Dia | GFR Media | 153,957 |
| 32 | The Salt Lake Tribune / Deseret News | Huntsman Family Investments / Deseret Management Corporation | 152,210 |
| 33 | Express (Washington DC) | Nash Holdings, LLC | 148,928 |
| 34 | Kansas City Star | McClatchy Co. | 146,730 |
| 35 | Chicago Sun-Times | Wrapports, LLC | 146,539 |
| 36 | The Virginian-Pilot | Landmark Media Enterprises | 143,682 |
| 37 | Pittsburgh Post-Gazette | Block Communications | 140,987 |
| 38 | The Miami Herald / El Nuevo Herald | McClatchy Co. | 139,735 |
| 39 | South Florida Sun Sentinel | tronc, Inc. | 135,404 |
| 40 | Arkansas Democrat Gazette | WEHCO Media | 130,552 |
| 41 | Indianapolis Star | Gannett Co. | 127,180 |
| 42 | Advocate (Baton Rouge) | John Georges | 126,976 |
| 43 | St. Louis Post-Dispatch | Lee Enterprises, Inc. | 124,712 |
| 44 | The Baltimore Sun | tronc, Inc. | 121,840 |
| 45 | Buffalo News | Berkshire Hathaway | 121,413 |
| 46 | Hartford Courant | tronc, Inc. | 114,227 |
| 47 | Investor’s Business Daily (Los Angeles) | . | 113,038 |
| 48 | Metro Puerto Rico Llc | Metro International | 107,690 |
| 49 | Charlotte Observer | McClatchy Co. | 107,321 |
| 50 | Omaha World-Herald / Sunday World-Herald | Berkshire Hathaway | 104,958 |
| 51 | Cincinnati Enquirer | Gannett Co. | 104,354 |
| 52 | Telegram & Gazette / Sunday Telegram | New Media Investment Group | 104,350 |
| 53 | State (Columbia, SC) | McClatchy Co. | 102,974 |
| 54 | Courier-Journal (Louisville) | Gannett Co. | 102,895 |
| 55 | News & Observer (Raleigh) | McClatchy Co. | 98,158 |
| 56 | Oklahoman | The Anschutz Corporation | 96,885 |
| 57 | La Opinion (Los Angeles) | Impremedia | 92,365 |
| 58 | Richmond Times-Dispatch | Berkshire Hathaway | 90,946 |
| 59 | Albuquerque Journal | Journal Publishing Co. | 89,635 |
| 60 | Fresno Bee | McClatchy Co. | 87,007 |
| 61 | Tennessean | Gannett Co. | 83,645 |
| 62 | Democrat And Chronicle (Rochester, NY) | Gannett Co. | 82,510 |
| 63 | Des Moines Register | Gannett Co. | 82,371 |
| 64 | Boston Herald, Boston Sunday Herald | Herald Media Inc. | 81,933 |
| 65 | Metro Philadelphia | Seabay Media Holdings LLC | 79,044 |
| 66 | Daily Herald, The Sunday Herald (Arlington Heights, IL) | Paddock Publications | 78,878 |
| 67 | Indice (San Juan) | GFR Media | 76,962 |
| 68 | Blade (Toledo) | Block Communications | 76,642 |
| 69 | Republican (Springfield, MA) | Advance Publications, Inc. | 76,353 |
| 70 | Primera Hora (San Juan) | GFR Media | 74,215 |
| 71 | Asbury Park Press (Neptune, NJ) | Gannett Co. | 73,194 |
| 72 | Post And Courier (Charleston) | Evening Post Publishing Co. | 69,433 |
| 73 | Metro Boston | Seabay Media Holdings LLC | 68,966 |
| 74 | Wisconsin State Journal | Lee Enterprises, Inc. | 67,965 |
| 75 | Akron Beacon Journal, Sunday Akron Journal | Black Press Group Ltd. | 65,783 |
| 76 | Tulsa World | Berkshire Hathaway | 61,817 |
| 77 | Morning Call (Allentown) | tronc, Inc. | 60,962 |
| 78 | The News Journal Media Group (New Castle, DE) | Gannett Co. | 60,620 |
| 79 | Florida Times-Union | Morris Publishing Co. | 60,399 |
| 80 | Arizona Daily Star | Lee Enterprises | 57,735 |
| 81 | Roanoke Times | Berkshire Hathaway | 54,293 |
| 82 | Chattanooga Times Free Press | WEHCO Media, Inc. | 53,552 |
| 83 | News Tribune (Tacoma, WA) | McClatchy Co. | 53,510 |
| 84 | Standard-Examiner (Ogden, UT) | Sandusky Newspapers, Inc. | 53,298 |
| 85 | LNP / Sunday LNP (Lancaster, PA) | LNP Media Group | 52,976 |
| 86 | Daytona Beach News-Journal | New Media Investment Group | 52,414 |
| 87 | Press Democrat (Santa Rosa) | Sonoma Media Investments LLC | 51,710 |
| 88 | Daily Gazette (Schenectady, NY) | The Hume Family | 50,974 |
| 89 | Journal News (White Plains, NY) | Gannett Co. | 50,699 |
| 90 | New Haven Register | Digital First Media | 50,658 |
| 91 | Modesto Bee | McClatchy Co. | 49,406 |
| 92 | Journal Gazette, News Sentinel (Fort Wayne, IN) | The Journal Gazette Co. / Ogden Newspapers, Inc. | 48,199 |
| 93 | Times Union (Albany) | Hearst Corp. | 48,144 |
| 94 | Lincoln Journal Star | Lee Enterprises, Inc. | 47,831 |
| 95 | Sarasota Herald-Tribune | New Media Investment Group | 47,400 |
| 96 | Journal Star (Peoria, IL) | New Media Investment Group | 46,947 |
| 97 | Wichita Eagle | McClatchy Co. | 46,709 |
| 98 | South Bend Tribune | Shurz Communications | 44,951 |
| 99 | Register-Guard (Eugene, OR) | Guard Publishing Co. | 44,697 |
| 100 | Gazette (Colorado Springs) | Clarity Media Group | 44,072 |
| Circulation Data Source: Alliance for Audited Media – Q3 2015 | |||
The #1 Thing to Do Before You Claim Social Security (Sponsor)
Choosing the right (or wrong) time to claim Social Security can dramatically change your retirement. So, before making one of the biggest decisions of your financial life, it’s a smart idea to get an extra set of eyes on your complete financial situation.
A financial advisor can help you decide the right Social Security option for you and your family. Finding a qualified financial advisor doesn’t have to be hard. SmartAsset’s free tool matches you with up to three financial advisors who serve your area, and you can interview your advisor matches at no cost to decide which one is right for you.
Click here to match with up to 3 financial pros who would be excited to help you optimize your Social Security outcomes.
Have questions about retirement or personal finance? Email us at [email protected]!
By emailing your questions to 24/7 Wall St., you agree to have them published anonymously on a673b.bigscoots-temp.com.
By submitting your story, you understand and agree that we may use your story, or versions of it, in all media and platforms, including via third parties.
Thank you for reading! Have some feedback for us?
Contact the 24/7 Wall St. editorial team.
Latest from 24/7
