During the first full year of John Georges’ ownership, The Advocate’s digital circulation more than doubled, while the newspaper’s print circulation increased overall. However, in the greater Baton Rouge area—the newspaper’s core market—print circulation continued its decline.
According to audited data posted online earlier this month by the Alliance for Audited Media, The Advocate’s overall print circulation increased about 2% on Sundays to more than 105,000 and by 7% during the weekdays to nearly 91,000. Those figures include editions of The New Orleans Advocate and The Acadiana Advocate, where the paper reported a combined circulation of some 33,000. In the Baton Rouge area, however, circulation was down 8% on Sundays to slightly more than 71,000 and off 6% during the week, to slightly more than 52,000.
Dan Shea, The Advocate’s chief operating officer, says given nationwide declines in print circulation, the local numbers are better than expected. He also notes that changes in the paper’s pricing structure could have played a factor.
“Since we’ve taken over we had an end to a whole bunch of discounts on home delivery and we have also had a price increase on Sunday,” he says. “So, overall, I think it’s pretty remarkable.” Daily Report has the full story.
Editor’s note: This story has been revised from an earlier version to include home delivery circulation data for The Advocate‘s retail trading zone, which includes East Feliciana, Iberville, Pointe Coupee, St. Helena, Tangipahoa and West Feliciana parishes. The revised version reflects higher circulation numbers than previously reported.
