Finally we have figures out for newspapers by the Audit Bureau of Circulation with comparisons.
I should say the main interest in the ABC figures are that these are official and legal so they can be discussed at any level.
Anyway I don’t see any surprises in the report. I had already discussed this issue with several of my clients and many of them had reported to me that newspapers are slightly up or stable. Which is exactly what the report shows as overall sales of national newspapers like the Australian and the Australian Financial Review are slightly up. State newspapers were constant or slightly down. Overall the newspaper industry is static. Which considering the overseas trend in the US and Britain is down is a good result!
Still it does not give us a newsagency wide figure and we should not to be so dependant on these bodies, as no-one is going to give to us these figures but should be easy to get if the ANF decides to do something about it!
