The New York Times yesterday reported that average weekday sales in the six months to the end of march declined 9% over the same period a year earlier. The Wall Street Journal was the only newspaper in the 25 largest to report a weekday increase – 0.5%.
Australian newspaper publishers have retail and distribution newsagents to thank for a healthier marketplace here. We provide a retail profile and consistency unlike anything you would see in the US.
Take the current AFL card promotion. It drives newspaper sales. No doubt about that. Such a program would be hard to execute in the US due to an inconsistent and disparate retail network. Look across a year and the promotions we run on behalf of publishers and you soon see the value of our network to a publisher wanting to drive single copy sales. Yep, newsagents are important to publishers.
Elsewhere in the US circulation newspaper news yesterday was the news that sales of electronic editions increased 40% for the top titles.