Seattle P-I, Seattle Times see circulation declines

Circulation fell at both of the daily newspapers in Seattle for the six months ending March 31, by a greater percentage at the Seattle P-I than at The Seattle Times and far more deeply at each than the national average.

The weekday P-I had a total average paid circulation of 131,769 for the period, down 9 percent from the same period the year before, according to figures released Monday by the Audit Bureau of Circulations.

The Times reported Monday-through-Friday circulation of 220,734, down 5.4 percent.

Circulation of the jointly published Sunday edition, to which the P-I staff contributes editorials, declined 4.7 percent, to 435,581.

The P-I's Saturday edition declined by 8.3 percent, to 115,748, while The Times' Saturday edition dropped by 5.5 percent, to 199,500.

Daily circulation for 770 U.S. newspapers fell 2.6 percent from a year earlier to 45.4 million, the Newspaper Association of America said.

Circulation dropped at seven of the 10 largest dailies. A separate survey showed that newspaper Web sites had 8 percent more users in the first quarter, illustrating a shift in readers and advertisers from print to digital formats.

"The Internet is the fastest-growing part of the newspaper business," John Kimball, chief marketing officer of the newspaper trade group, said on a conference call.

Elsewhere in the Puget Sound region, The News Tribune of Tacoma saw a decrease of 3.5 percent for its Monday through Friday edition, to 125,228. The King County Journal declined by 1.9 percent, to 41,510.

The Herald in Everett declined by 2 percent Monday through Friday, to 49,514.

The publishers of Seattle's daily papers offered identical explanations for the declines.

"Our numbers are in line with industry trends, and probably better, were it not for cost-savings measures put into place in February 2005," said Seattle P-I Associate Publisher Ken Bunting.

Specifically, he pointed to doubling the P-I's price to 50 cents, eliminating door-to-door subscription sales and cutting distribution to some parts of Eastern Washington.

The Seattle Times doubled its price, too, and suffered similarly from the other changes, Vice President Jill Mackie said.

"Going forward, it's too soon to say whether there will be growth in our circulation numbers, but we definitely don't expect to see these kinds of cuts," she said.

Of the 25 biggest papers in the country, 20 reported drops in circulation. Of the five that did not drop, the gains were all less than 1 percent. Those were USA Today (2,272,815), The New York Times (1,142,464), the Chicago Tribune (579,079), The Star-Ledger of Newark, N.J., (398,329) and the Detroit Free Press (345,861).

The losses were much more striking. Circulation at the San Francisco Chronicle fell by more than 15 percent, to 398,246, and at The Boston Globe, which is owned by The New York Times Co., by more than 8 percent, to 397,288. Both papers attributed the sharp declines largely to deliberate strategies of eliminating free copies that advertisers found of little value because those receiving them did not want them.

This report includes information from The Associated Press. P-I reporter Dan Richman can be reached at 206-448-8032 or danrichman@seattlepi.com.

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