ABC: Overall newspaper circulation down 2.1%. Only six of the top 25 papers showed circulation increases. Over the last 30 years, U.S. population has grown by 50 million while newspaper circulation has declined by eight million.
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The slowdown in the real estate market couldn’t come at a worse time. Sales of existing homes fell 8.4% between February and March, and that’s the steepest month-to-month drop in 18 years. As a result, newspaper real-estate classified revenue slipped 2.26% in Q207. Just two quarters ago, the growth rate was 10.5%.
Economists aren’t predicting things will turn around soon, which means that one of newspapers’ few advertising strongholds – real estate classifieds – is under assault for the foreseeable future. Recruitment and services advertising is already moving online in a big way. Where will newspapers find the markets that justify their traditionally huge margins? Real estate ads apparently aren’t the answer.
According to MediaPost, “McClatchy saw total classified ad revenue drop 12%, with automotive down 10%, real estate down 18.6% and job recruitment down 12.7%.” The company blamed the declines on market weakness, but Craigslist says business is just fine.
According to MediaPost, “McClatchy saw total classified ad revenue drop 12%, with automotive down 10%, real estate down 18.6% and job recruitment down 12.7%.” The company blamed the declines on market weakness, but Craigslist says business is just fine.
Knowledge@Wharton reports on the Washington Post’s innovative campaign to move its model online, but notes that the paper struggles with the smaller revenue and cost base of an Internet business. Registration required.
Concluded Jan 5, 2009: 
We get asked about this section a lot, so here’s what it is and isn’t.
R.I.P. has been a fixture on this blog since we launched it in March, 2007. It was originally a running list of newspapers that have gone out of business. However, as publishers began to experiment with reduced frequency and Web-only options, we added the W.I.P. (Works In Progress) column to include them. If you’re interested, you can read about the thought process here.
These lists are limited to daily newspapers only. It would be impossible to list all the weeklies that have shut down, since many of those closures aren’t even announced. We also don’t include other media, such as magazines, radio or television. Magazine Death Pool does an outstanding job of tracking its industry. There’s also a good Twitter stream called The Media is Dying, although it could disappear at any time. Finally, Paper Cuts and News Cycle track newspaper layoffs.
Please point out any errors or omissions. We’re grateful for the feedback.
