Newspaper circulation declines, is the web to blame?

Newspaper circulation has been on a declining trend since the mid-1980s, but the industry could be facing at its worst numbers in years as more and more people look to other media – especially online – for their news, information and entertainment.

According to the latest figures from the Audit Bureau of Circulations, the newspaper industry saw an overall decline of 3.6% in the six months ending March 2008, compared to the same period one year ago. This is the ninth straight report where newspaper circulation has declined so the numbers shouldn’t come as much of a surprise, but it’s still interesting to see how these numbers reflect the migration to web.

Now, the press industry’s main problem isn't the state of print circulation per se, but figuring out how to generate more ad revenue from both its print product and online properties, while at the same time compete against a host of independent, non-corporate publications.