盡管美國主流大報的訂閱激增但行業整體流通量和收入在下滑

盡管美國主流大報的訂閱激增但行業整體流通量和收入在下滑

來源：皮尤研究中心

2017年6月1日

作者：MICHAEL BARTHEL

在去年的總統選舉之后，一些美國主要報紙的數字訂閱量急劇上升，從而推動了總體流通量。根據最新的皮尤研究中心的分析，報業在2016年一直面臨著持續的挑戰。

年度財務報表顯示，《紐約時報》在2016年增加了超過50萬的數字訂閱量，同比增長了47%。根據道瓊斯（Dow Jones）編制的審計報告，《華爾街日報》增加了超過15萬的數字訂閱，增長了23%。根據審計媒體聯盟（AAM，一個驗證了許多日報發行量的組織）的存檔文件，《芝加哥論壇報》在平日數字流通中增加了大約10萬的數字流通量，同比增長了76%。

但這些收益并未轉化為整體行業發行量的增長。皮尤研究中心對審計媒體聯盟（AAM）數據的分析顯示，《美國日報》（印刷版和數字版）的總平日發行量在2016年下降了8%，是連續第28年下降。 （周日發行量也下降了8%）。整體下跌幅度包括平日印刷發行量減少10%（周日為9%），平日數字發行量下降1%（星期日上漲1%）。 《美國日報》的平日發行量下降到3500萬，而周日的周日流量下降到3800萬，是自1945年以來的最低水平（有關如何計算這些總計的更多信息，請參閱我們的資料）。

雖然印刷發行量包括上述所說的主流大報，但數字版流量更難評估。美國最大的三份日常報紙—《紐約時報》、《華盛頓郵報》和《華爾街日報》，沒有完全將它們的數字訂閱報告給AAM,因此它們沒有包括在上述總體流通估算中。如果“時代報”和“日刊”的獨立制作數字流量數據被包括在內，那么整體平日流通量會下降4%，而不是只在AAM數據中所顯示的8%。

根據年終財務報表，《紐約時報》的廣告收入同比下降9%，發行收入增長3%，整體收入下降2%。強調數字創新的Tronc（更名自論壇出版公司Tribune），廣告收入下降8%，總收入下降4%，盡管發行收入增長了5%（Tronc擁有《芝加哥論壇報》和《洛杉磯時報》等報紙）。而報業巨頭Gannett的廣告收入沒有變化，但這主要是由于公司在一年中收購了其他的報紙。如果這些新收購不算在內，廣告收入就下降了13%。

Despite subscription surges for largest U.S. newspapers, circulation and revenue fall for industry overall

From: Pew Research Center

June 01,2017

By MICHAEL BARTHEL

http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2017/06/01/circulation-and-revenue-fall-for-newspaper-industry/

Following last year’s presidential election, some major U.S. newspapers reported a sharp jump in digital subscriptions, giving a boost to their overall circulation totals. The newspaper industry as a whole, however, faced ongoing challenges in 2016, according to new Pew Research Center analysis.

Yearly financial statements show that The New York Times added more than 500,000 digital subscriptions in 2016 – a 47% year-over-year rise. The Wall Street Journal added more than 150,000 digital subscriptions, a 23% rise, according to audited statements produced by Dow Jones. And the Chicago Tribune added about 100,000 in weekday digital circulation, a 76% yearover-year gain, according to its filings with the Alliance for Audited Media (AAM), an organization that verifies many daily newspapers’ circulation figures.

But these gains did not translate into circulation growth for the industry overall. A Pew Research Center analysis of data from AAM shows that total weekday circulation for U.S. daily newspapers – both print and digital – fell 8% in 2016, marking the 28th consecutive year of declines. (Sunday circulation also fell 8%.) The overall decline includes a 10% decrease in weekday print circulation (9% for Sundays) and a 1% decline in weekday digital circulation (1% rise for Sundays). Total weekday circulation for U.S. daily newspapers fell to 35 million, while total Sunday circulation declined to 38 million – the lowest levels since 1945. (For more information on how these totals were calculated, see our fact sheet.)

While the print circulation figures include the large papers cited above, digital circulation is more difficult to assess. Three of the largest U.S. daily papers – The New York Times, The Washington Post and The Wall Street Journal – do not fully report their digital subscriptions to AAM, so they are not included in the overall circulation estimate above. Had the independently produced digital circulation figures from the Times and Journal been included, total weekday circulation would have fallen by 4%, rather than the 8% figure shown in the AAM data alone.

According to year-end financial statements, The New York Times saw a year-over-year decline of 9% in advertising revenue but a 3% rise in circulation revenue, for an overall revenue decline of 2%. Tronc, which has emphasized digital innovation in changing its name from Tribune Publishing, saw an 8% decline in advertising revenue and a 4% decline in total revenue, though circulation revenue increased 5%. (Tronc owns the Chicago Tribune and Los Angeles Times, among other papers.) And Gannett saw no change in its advertising revenue, but this was due mainly to the company’s acquisition of additional newspapers over the course of the year; once these new acquisitions are taken out of the equation, ad revenue declined by 13%.