Friday 22nd May: ABC changes narrative on newspaper circulation

May 22, 2020

Good morning! Today's Media Roundup is brought to you by Peter.

UK national newspapers will no longer have to make their print circulations public through auditors ABC. The Press Gazette reports that the ABC sees this as a way to address publisher concerns that monthly ABC reports are a 'stimulus to write a negative narrative of circulation decline'.

It's no secret that paid-for print circulation has been dropping for some time, so making the numbers secret now seems like a horseless stable-door closing situation. But, tune in next quarter for positive narratives of continued circulation decline.

The Atlantic, one of the oldest magazines in the United States, is laying off 17% of its employees. Atlantic Media chairman and owner David Bradley blamed the global pandemic for decimating ad revenue and its events business.

The coronavirus crisis has led to spikes in traffic and newsletter sign ups and Digiday reports USA Today’s first coronavirus newsletter became the fastest-growing newsletter in the publisher’s history. Ad revenue on newsletters is up too.

Sad that we won't be seeing some of you in Portugal later this year, but happy to hear FIPP is taking its 2020 World Media Congress online. The virtual event runs over four weeks in September.

Podcast:

John Burn-Murdoch has been at the forefront of the FT's famous coronavirus trajectory trackers. He talks about the challenges of working with data this complex, how the FT’s approach to trajectory charts has evolved throughout the crisis, and more.

The transcript for John's interview is now also live.

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