Newspaper sales drop 2.5% in June quarter as consumers shut their wallets

The newspaper publishing industry was dealt a heavy blow this morning, with new circulation figures showing quarterly sales fell by 2.5% compared to the same period in 2009.

According to the Audit Bureau of Circulations figures, out of the 25 main capital city and national weekday and weekend newspapers, 22 lost sales in the June quarter. The Sunday Mail in Queensland lost the largest amount, down 6.8% to 514,405 sales.

Only two titles, the West Australian and News Limited’s Daily Telegraph, managed to record increases of 3.3% and 0.8% respectively.

Out of the daily papers, the Australian Financial Review recorded the largest drop in sales, with a 5.9% fall to 77,046. This was followed by The Age, which fell 4.5% to 197,500, and the Geelong Advertiser, which was down 4.1% to 180.091.

The Daily Telegraph lost 3.8% to 374,395, along with the Herald Sun which lost 2.1% to 515,500 and the Sydney Morning Herald which also lost 1.4% to 207,013. The Australian recorded just a 0.5% fall to 135,115.

The Age lost the most out of all the Saturday publications, recording a 4% drop to 279,900, while the Courier-Mail lost 3% to 296,560. The Daily Telegraph recorded a 0.8% increase to 339,621.

However, the biggest falls were among the Sunday papers. The Sunday Mail in Queensland lost 6.8% to 514,405, while the Sunday Times lost 5.4% to 303,581. The Sunday Herald Sun also lost 3.2% to 597,000.

Magazine results weren’t much better. Weekly sales results dropped 9.1%, with ACP titles including OK!, Zoo Weekly, NW and TV Week all recording double-digit falls. However, Women’s Day only recorded a 1.9% drop, and Pacific’s New Idea was up by 0.3%.

News Limited managed to cash in on the Masterchef craze with the show’s official magazine, with the publication selling an average of 150,000 copies across the first two issues.

Combined sales of national and major metro publications fell by 2.45% during the quarter to June 30. It comes after a 3.2% decline in the first quarter of the year, and is significantly larger than the 0.6% decline recorded during the June quarter in 2009.

Not surprisingly, newspaper publisher lobby group Newspaper Works has attempted to put a positive spin on the data. Newspaper Works chief executive Tony Hale said in a statement the results were to be expected, given the tough retail environment, and newspapers are doing relatively well in adapting to digital formats.

”It has impacted us just like it has impacted other paid media, but the five-year trend remains relatively stable,” he said.

Hale says publications are managing to reach more readers by publishing stories online and developing platforms for gadgets like smartphones and tablets.

”Newspaper mastheads continue to be strong business drivers for all the publishers and the advent of online, smartphones, iPads and eReaders means that newspapers now reach more people than ever before and we are taking advantage of that.”

He also points out newspapers sales in Australia are outperforming those overseas, with US sales of weekday papers dropping 9% in the six months to March 2010.