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The One Dollar Single Copy Price is Becoming More Common
The 50 cent Price Point Still Works For More Than Half of U.S. Daily Newspapers
The Atlanta Journal Constitution has joined what it becoming a less exclusive club of $1.00 daily newspapers. Along with USA Today, these include the Dallas Morning News, The Boston Globe, The Boston Herald, the Houston Chronicle, and the Mobile Press Register. This is a tough concept to grasp for newspapers that may be considering a move from 50 cents to 75 cents.
An NAA analysis of the ABC eRate book released last month listed eight newspapers with a $1.00 daily single copy price as of April 1st. A few more have made the move since that time.
| WEEKDAY |
|
| Price |
Number of Newspapers |
% of Total |
| $0.15 |
1 |
0.1% |
| $0.25 |
6 |
0.8% |
| $0.35 |
11 |
1.6% |
| $0.50 |
413 |
58.4% |
| $0.55 |
1 |
0.1% |
| $0.59 |
1 |
0.1% |
| $0.60 |
5 |
0.7% |
| $0.70 |
1 |
0.1% |
| $0.75 |
256 |
36.2% |
| $1.00 |
8 |
1.1% |
| $1.50 |
2 |
0.3% |
| $1.75 |
1 |
0.1% |
| $2.00 |
1 |
0.1% |
| Total |
707 |
100.0% |
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Although almost every newspaper would term the losses in sales as substantial. The impact of a one dollar price point is difficult to gage because some of these newspapers were only priced at seventy-five cents a short time. In a couple instances newspapers have moved from 50 cents, to 75 cents to a dollar in less than a year.
The data also marks the move from 50 cents to 75 cents in the last year. More than a third of daily U.S. newspapers are now priced at 75 cents compared to a dozen two years ago.
Source: NAA, ABC
Source: NAA, ABC and MediaPost
Published
Sep 17 2009, 12:37 PM
by
jmurray
About jmurray
John Murray came to NAA in 1997 after 18 years of newspaper marketing experience. Most of that time was in circulation management positions. But he attributes much of his career success to also having spent time in newspaper promotion, research, strategic planning, community relations, and advertising which provided a broader context to his newspaper marketing expertise.
Prior to NAA John worked at Fort Wayne Newspapers, the business agency for The News Sentinel and Journal Gazette, where he was circulation director for both papers for seven years. After graduation from Louisiana State University he was recruited by Sears for retail management assignments. He began his newspaper career at the Columbus (Ga.) Ledger-Enquirer and was a participant in Knight Ridder’s Circulation Management Development Program.
At NAA John is responsible for Audience Development initatives, and serves as resource to newspaper executives charged with marketing the newspaper to readers, and audience metrics issues. John’s is the staff liaison for the NAA/ ABC Committees and serves as a resource to our advertisers regarding newspaper circulation and readership.
Recent publications produced by the circulation marketing department include: Understanding the Value of Newspapers - The Relationship Between Price Paid and Readership, NAA’s 2009Circulation Facts, Figures and Logic and Independant Contractor Relationships.
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