Post, News Web Traffic Balances Print Reductions

Post, News Web Traffic Balances Print Reductions

DENVER, April 28 /PRNewswire/ -- New six-month statistics, released today, show The Denver Post and Rocky Mountain News continuing to maintain sizeable cumulative audience share despite the impact of planned cutbacks in promotional programs and the migration of traditional print customers to the newspapers' websites.

Indeed, a separate report from Omniture Website Traffic Reports, for the same six-month period shows average weekly unique visitors to the Denver Newspaper Agency's family of web sites at 1.1 million, or a 22 percent increase over the previous six months.

"Clearly, more and more readers are tapping into our websites for weekday news and advertising information," said Bill Reynolds, senior vice president for circulation for the DNA.

Reynolds noted that weekly unique traffic to DNA sites has tripled since the statistics began to be tracked in September 2002.

Harry Whipple, president and CEO of the DNA, pointed to concurrent new information from Scarborough Research showing the weekly cumulative print readership for the two newspapers holding near 1.3 million for the third year in a row. Scarborough is a nationally recognized consumer research firm employed by the DNA and other major newspapers throughout the country.

"As we pare expensive promotional copies, it's heartening to see that the loyalty of print readers remains as strong as ever," Whipple said. "And as web traffic to our sites increases, it simply reinforces our role as the area's dominant media provider, no matter what the format is."

More detailed audience measurements from Scarborough are expected in about a month, DNA officials said.

New circulation statistics were released today by the Audit Bureau of Circulation, the industry auditing arm, for the six-month period ending March 31, 2008.

Post and News circulation figures reflect a decision made a year ago by the DNA to virtually eliminate so-called "third-party" circulation in order to concentrate on core print and audience development. Third-party copies are mostly hotel distribution and advertiser-paid copies distributed free to selected non-subscribers.

A DNA analysis of all the ABC reports showed that the two Denver newspapers continued to be among metro market leaders in paid circulation and household penetration.

The Sunday newspaper ranked No. 1 among metropolitan newspapers in household penetration with 46.3%, more than five points ahead of second-place Washington Post. The Denver newspapers ranked No. 9 in Sunday paid circulation.

The daily products ranked No. 2 in penetration at 36%, slightly behind Long Island Newsday. Daily circulation ranked No. 10, marking the 14th straight reporting period that the Denver dailies were recorded among the Top 10 metro newspapers nationally.

The ABC filing also showed that circulation for the combined Sunday Denver Post & Rocky Mountain News declined 104,143 over the same period in 2007, to a total of 600,026. Nearly 86,000 of that decline occurred in a previously announced reduction of third-party copies.

The combined Saturday Rocky Mountain News & Denver Post dropped 60,045 to a total of 490,043, with more than 57,000 of that loss coming from third-party.

Combined Monday-Friday circulation also fell 57,634, to a total of 450,258, but only 25,000 was attributed to third-party reduction.

Reynolds said weekday home delivery losses were higher than on weekends. "During the busy work week, more people are turning to the web for news and other information," Reynolds said, "and our increased web traffic reflects that lifestyle change."

He also noted that increases in delivery of the electronic "replica" editions of the two newspapers further contributed to reduction in print home delivery, as did reductions in "bonus days" and other frequency changes. Bonus days are free copies delivered to less than 7-day subscribers as a promotion incentive. The practice is also allowable under ABC rules.

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Source: Denver Newspaper Agency

CONTACT: Jim Nolan of Mountain Media Consulting, +1-970-366-1806, for
Denver Newspaper Agency

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