The New York Times, however, has experienced a surge in circulation, with a .2 percent increase in both daily and Sunday readers. Though circulation has dropped 2 percent in New York, the paper had an overall increase of 2 percent nationally.
Many in the industry are dreading the upcoming Fas-Fax report, and early numbers are slowly starting to emerge.
Today came word that The Boston Globe is expecting steep overall circulation declines for the six-month period ending March 2005 while The New York Times and the McClatchy chain experienced slight gains.
The New York Times reported daily circ increased by 2,500 copies, or .2%.
Executives attributed the circulation decreases in Boston and in the New York area to weather problems during Q1, changing demographics -- an influx of immigrants -- and the shunning of traditional papers by a younger generation.
Janet Robinson, president and CEO of the New York Times Co., warned the declines would continue for the second half of the year, especially as the company migrates away from bulk sales.
&ldquoAdvertisers are becoming better informed of circulation analysis,� she said, adding that the Times is in the process of converting to a readership model.
For Q1, circulation revenue at the company slipped slightly, down 0.3%.
The New England group was down 7%, and the Regional Media Group was flat.
Also today, the McClatchy Co., which often outperforms the industry in terms of circulation gains, announced that the upcoming Fas-Fax report will show daily circ up 2% but Sunday circ down 2% for the company.
Gary Pruitt, CEO of McClatchy, told analysts this afternoon that he expects Sunday circ to continue to show declines around 1% for the year while daily circ will remain flat.
Pruitt explained the industry wide decrease in Sunday copies is &ldquoabnormally large� because of fewer third-party sales.
He thinks there will be some &ldquopretty ugly Fas-Fax numbers coming� from many companies due to the pull back in bulk copies.