Yes, we see the irony in an online publication running a story about the decline of newspapers. But still. It has been revealed that weekend newspaper circulation has dropped by 7,5% in the past year. That is significant.
If percentiles don’t give you an idea of how much that is, consider that the combined circulation of South Africa’s weekend papers fell from 2,338,836 copies from July to September last year, to 2,163,784 copies this year. That’s a net decline of 175,052 copies, according to the Audit Bureau of Circulations of SA’s (ABC) third quarter report.
Rapport was the biggest victim this year, having lost 37,307 copies (16,9%) from a total circulation of 220,494 last year. By contrast, the country’s biggest-selling weekend newspaper, The Sunday Times, shrunk by by 31,610 copies (7%), from 451,676 last year to 420,066 this year.
In fact, of South Africa’s 28 weekend papers, only two saw their circulation increase. The first is the Independent on Saturday, which is up from 43,780 to 44,141 (0,8%), and Isolezwe ngoMgqibelo, up from 73,187 copies to 78,772 (7,6%).
Daily newspapers face the same situation, though to a lesser degree, the overall daily circulation dropped a total of 5,8%, from 1,566,778 copies to 1,475,429. Even the Daily Sun, the country’s top selling daily paper decreased a whopping 13,4%, from 336,319 copies to 291,132.
The only dailies that saw an increase were The Times, Isolezwe, and The Daily Dispatch.
Sales of The Times increased increased the most significantly, from 140,078 copies to 143,957 (2,7%). The circulation of Isolezwe rose from 107,628 to 108,484 (0,8%); and bringing up the rear is The Daily Dispatch, who saw a marginal increase from 26,390 to 26,501 (0,4%).
