According to America’s Pew Institute, 2015 brought pressures on the US newspaper industry not seen since the recession. And judging by reports from other countries, this was also a shared experience by newspapers in the UK, Germany, Canada, Australia and New Zealand. But America has the biggest newspaper industry in the world, and Pew said in its annual State of the News Media report that average weekday newspaper circulation — print and digital combined — fell 7%, the biggest yearly fall since 2010, as the economy rebounded from the GFC. US newspaper Sunday circulation fell 4% last year.
Pew pointed out that the 7% drop in weekday circulations:
“… was due entirely to print circulation, which declined by 9%, while digital circulation increased by 2%. Sunday circulation, meanwhile, fell 4%, following a 3% drop in 2014. As with weekday circulation, the fall in Sunday circulation was due to a decline in print circulation, which fell 5% while digital rose 4%.”
Pew pointed out that 2015’s fall of 7% was more than double the 3% dip in 2015. “In 2015, print circulation makes up 78% of weekday circulation and 86% of all Sunday circulation. Only three newspapers had more average weekday digital circulation than average weekday print circulation in the same period.” The New York Times, Monday to Saturday, was one of those three.
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