Circulation falls at Canwest dailies

Every Canadian daily newspaper that is audited by the Audit Bureau of Circulations saw its circulation fall from the winter reporting period to the summer reporting period this year. Canwest-owned papers saw particularly large drops. How much is a normal seasonal variation and how much represents readers abandoning papers is an open question.

Montreal Gazette Monday- to-Friday circulation fell by 16.6 per cent in the six-month period ending Sept. 30, 2009, compared with the period ending March. 31, 2009. Edmonton Journal fell by 10.6 per cent. Calgary Herald fell by 10.5 per cent. Ottawa Citizen circulation fell by 10.4 per cent. Vancouver Sun fell by 10.3 per cent. Province circulation fell by 7.3 per cent and National Post circulation fell by 5.2 per cent.

Because the two six-month periods in the ABC report cover summer and winter, they are not exactly comparable, but the trend of Canwest papers falling more than non-Canwest papers is troubling.

The Globe and Mail circulation was down 0.8 per cent. The Halifax Chronicle Herald fell by 0.6 per cent. The Winnipeg Free Press fell by 4.6 per cent. Montreal’s La Presse fell by 4.9 per cent.

The Toronto Star and Sun Media papers are no longer audited by ABC.

This entry was posted on Thursday, November 5th, 2009 at 1:02 pm and is filed under Local News.