Newspaper Ownership - 2006 Annual Report

As was the case in the first two editions of the annual report, around 20 newspaper companies continue to dominate both in the number of papers they own and in their share of total daily and Sunday circulation.

Percent of Daily Newspapers Owned by Largest Newspaper Groups

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Source: Editor and Publisher Yearbook; PEJ Research

* The largest groups include the 21 newspaper groups with a combined daily circulation of over 500,000.

Percent of Daily Circulation Belonging to Largest Newspaper Groups

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Source: Editor and Publisher Yearbook; PEJ Research

* The largest groups include the 21 newspaper groups with a combined daily circulation of over 500,000.

There were two changes worth reporting for 2005, however. First, the share of Sunday circulation belonging to the top companies declined two percentage points, from 75% to 73%.15

Percent of Sunday Circulation Belonging to Largest Newspaper Groups

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Source: Editor and Publisher Yearbook; PEJ Research

* The largest groups include the 21 newspaper groups with a combined daily circulation of over 500,000.

Second, daily circulation became even more concentrated among the 10 companies with the highest total circulation. According to the most recent data, those chains now accounted for 54% of total daily circulation, an increase of three percentage points over the previous year. Meanwhile, they accounted for an even greater share (58%) of Sunday circulation, although that number increased only one percentage point over the previous year.16

Top Ten Groups’ Percent of Total Daily Circulation

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Source: Editor and Publisher Yearbook; PEJ Research

The top ten groups are by combined weekday circulation.

Top Ten Groups’ Percent of Total Sunday Circulation

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Source: Editor and Publisher Yearbook; PEJ Research

* The top ten groups are by combined weekday circulation.