O Circulation Down

Submitted by LynnS on Wed, 11/07/2007 - 5:48pm.

WWeek reports today that The O's circulation numbers are down...:

...about 1.2 percent on Sundays, to 371,000 copies, and about 0.4 percent weekdays, to 309,000. ... These are the first numbers since the O launched its extra special newsstand-only edition in June, designed to capture pedestrians’ pocket change with huge photos and sexy (ick) headlines that pump up sports, woodland creatures, rape and TV reruns.

As opposed to, say, Brazilian wax jobs.

Submitted by ericm47 on Wed, 11/07/2007 - 6:33pm.

It must be those pesky 'delivery problems' they were always asking about.

We cancelled our subcription a few months back and immediately
the calls started coming...2 and 3 times a day sometimes. When they asked why I cancelled, before I could say anything, they asked "was it delivery problems? It was delivery problems wasn't it?" No. Our delivery person was very nice and punctual. When I told them it was LACK OF CONTENT they seemed confused and then quite snippy, like that wasn't a valid reason or something.

Submitted by Tv_Viewer on Wed, 11/07/2007 - 9:14pm.

The reason why I get it is because my husband likes to read the Sunday paper. We don't get the weekday paper anymore because it went unread and wasn't worth paying for.

Submitted by Anonymous Source (not verified) on Thu, 11/08/2007 - 2:34pm.

The "newstand" edition is an embarrassment. The morning after the election and the front page screams about some college football player being injured. Every day it's some kind of fluffy pseudo-news thing, often with any actual news content below the fold, so you can't even see it if you're peering into a newspaper box window trying to see if it's worth forking over a couple of quarters.

Submitted by Anonymous Source (not verified) on Thu, 11/08/2007 - 6:06pm.

I believe the circ numbers were up on single-copy sales, and in the Portland metro area. The 1.7 percent downturn is pretty normal this time of year, but I think the paper should be doing some things to make the paper more dynamic.

Submitted by Anonymous Source (not verified) on Fri, 11/09/2007 - 9:00am.

If it weren't for the comics pages, we'd have probably dropped our subscription. We have good delivery service, except when our regular person goes on vacation, but it's a quick read anymore.

Submitted by Anonymous Source (not verified) on Fri, 11/09/2007 - 12:49pm.

it's not hard to understand why they ain't movin' the fishwrap...

[11/9/07 online edition headline]

"Wind demands dwarf supply"

Have the Little People of America been informed of this?
Perhaps if sourcing was done in Munchkin Land this would not be a problem... so many questions...

WTF

SCJ

Submitted by Anonymous Source (not verified) on Fri, 11/09/2007 - 5:32pm.

I agree on the need for more news content but think there should also be more pics. Doesn't the Oregonian have a stellar photog staff? Why doesn't management let them do more photo essays in the daily, and feature more pics on the internet while they're at it? I'd re-subscribe then. Enough with the lame video news clips and "show us YOUR photos" business, I'd like to see more form the pros, please.

Submitted by niceoldguy (not verified) on Fri, 11/09/2007 - 6:15pm.

the street sale paper has always been a problem.
in he 70s and earlier, the O took its first edition headline and reprinted it in bold type to make the street edition more exciting. of course, the headline was often about .01 percent changes in the wholesale price index, or some other gray, institutional example of "serious journalism."
the journal would be on the stand at the same time with headlines about dope-running grandmas and the like. even the people in the O newsroom read the journal at lunch.
then came the screamer ediion which attempted to draw in readers with hollywood, crime etc. headlines.
but consider above:"We don't get the weekday paper anymore because it went unread and wasn't worth paying for."
if you didn't read it, how did you know its worth? The O's problem has never been a lack of serious news. it is the serious reader shortage.

Submitted by rfaaberg on Sat, 11/10/2007 - 12:58am.

LynnS wrote:
WWeek reports today that The O's circulation numbers are down...:

...about 1.2 percent on Sundays, to 371,000 copies, and about 0.4 percent weekdays, to 309,000. ... These are the first numbers since the O launched its extra special newsstand-only edition in June, designed to capture pedestrians’ pocket change with huge photos and sexy (ick) headlines that pump up sports, woodland creatures, rape and TV reruns.

As opposed to, say, Brazilian wax jobs.

Must be an insider joke, but did they actually cover that in the O?

Have to admit I've looked that up on the web since I'm so ignorant about that stuff, but in the O? Wow! :-)

Viewer Rick

Submitted by Anonymous Source (not verified) on Sat, 11/10/2007 - 5:57pm.

Yeah, it's an insider joke. The ever shallow and hypocritical WW ran a cover story on Brazilian wax jobs two years ago. You can read it here:

http://www.richardspeer.com/wwthefuzzthatwas.html

Love the classy headline. So clever, those Weakers.

Submitted by James X. on Sat, 11/10/2007 - 8:35pm.

...she was referring to this memorable cover story:

The Fuzz That Was: Beaver or Brazilian? The latest Bush War has Portlanders tearing their hair out.

Submitted by Anonymous Source (not verified) on Wed, 11/14/2007 - 7:23pm.

Having worked for newspapers on and off for over 20 years I see
how circulation continues to fall, however, people do like to read a
free publication that has a variety of news items, arts, entertainment
and features. These publications continue to evolve and do quite well with readers and response for the advertisers. In fairness to all at our three large daily papers, the lack of content is probably due to 40% less staff this year than last yet more publications they have to write for.

Submitted by Anonymous Source (not verified) on Fri, 11/16/2007 - 12:32am.

300000 ?? That's a typo, right? It's missing the decimal point ....

Submitted by Mercian70 (not verified) on Sun, 01/20/2008 - 10:14pm.

Dropped my subscription years ago and my life has been rewarded in many ways since.
I don't watch local news either and I lost weight as a result.

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