Matthew Felling on the CBS News blog – Public Blog – points out that the circulation figures of the heralded USA Today aren’t exactly what they seem.
While the USA Today story is overwhelmingly positive, it’s also a case study in fuzzy math and the newspaper industry’s measurement system. You see, USA Today doesn’t get bought by 2.3 million people — at least not in the traditional sense of the word “bought.” Instead, they carpet the hallways of America’s hotels, making “The Nation’s Newspaper” more like The Nation’s Doormat.
According to data acquired by this writer from the ABC, 1,174,632 USA Todays are provided to the lodgers of America during the week, compared to 84,918 Wall Street Journals and a relatively modest 43, 209 New York Times. Yes, USA Today works out financial agreements with the hotels and are entirely upfront with advertisers … but it still casts the numbers in a different light.
Gannett figured out how to work the system to maintain high circulation with having to depend individual subscribers and single paper purchases. Slightly more than half of USA Today papers are sold to hotels for distribution to their guest…and that’s the true key to its circulation success. The Wall St. Journal has the next highest circulation, but only 4% is sold to hotels; followed by the New York Times that has 3.85% sold to hotels.