By William Turvill, Press Gazette, Aug. 25

America’s top 25 largest newspapers have lost 20% of their weekday print circulation since the COVID-19 crisis began, a Press Gazette analysis of Alliance for Audited Media (AAM) data shows.

Newspaper circulations have been in decline for years. But our research suggests that the pandemic significantly increased the rate of decline.

In the first quarter of 2019, the 25 newspapers had a combined circulation of 4.7m. A year later, this total figure had fallen by 11% to 4.2m. The latest figures for these titles show a combined circulation of 3.4m, down 20% in a year.

America’s largest newspaper brands have switched much of their focus to building up digital subscription businesses in recent years – a trend that has become more pronounced over the past 18 months. But print remains an important revenue stream for the industry, both for circulation and advertising income.

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