Newspaper Audience - 2006 Annual Report

In the end, the circulation erosion of print newspapers appears likely to continue. An optimistic read is that it may slow to the more typical annual level of 1% or less as papers finish working though their adjustment to the Do Not Call rule, tightened ABC guidelines and volunteer shedding of that excess third-party circulation advertisers did not really want. Conversely, there is every reason to think that the losses to online sources of news or other Web shopping and leisure activities may accelerate.

What is clear is that 2005 solidified the reality of a multi-platform strategy; it is no longer rhetoric. Newspapers’ operations are not just about the print edition with “other” an afterthought. Increasingly companies are putting cash and focus into developing online and niche audience as the traditional one wanes.