Newspaper & Mailroom
Chicago Tribune Media Group Continues Growth Trend
Monday 27. October 2008 - Chicago Tribune Media Group's growing portfolio of print and online products continues to reach three out of four Chicago-area adults every week*, the Group announced today as it released circulation results for the Chicago Tribune during the 26-week reporting period ended September 28, 2008.
The newspaper is reporting Sunday total average paid circulation of 864,845 and weekday circulation of 516,032, as filed with the Audit Bureau of Circulations.
Both figures reflect declines over last year that are the result of a focus on high value circulation and renewed emphasis on retaining home delivery readers. These declines were offset by increases elsewhere in the Media Group’s line of niche publications resulting in the growth of the company’s total circulation and readership.
The Group’s total weekday circulation — which includes the free daily RedEye, Hispanic daily Hoy and the newly introduced weekly high school paper, TheMash — is up 17 percent over last year with more than 882,000 copies. During the weekend, the Group’s total print circulation grew 4 percent to 1.3 million, which includes RedEye’s free, home-delivered weekend edition and Hoy’s Fin De Semana.
Additionally, Chicago Tribune Interactive’s site traffic is growing, up 38 percent in monthly page views at chicagotribune.com and chicago.metromix.com combined.**
“It is clear that our strategies to build our local audience are paying off,” said Tony Hunter, president, publisher and CEO of Chicago Tribune Media Group. “We will continue to leverage our portfolio of media offerings as we compete for both readers and advertising dollars. And we’re very encouraged by the early success of the redesign of the Chicago Tribune.”
These results were announced shortly after the successful launch of Chicago Tribune’s radical reinvention — in style, layout and editing philosophy. Sporting more vibrant pages, bold graphics and better organization, the paper continues its dedication to accurate and groundbreaking journalism that its readers have come to expect. The paper received its 25th Pulitzer Prize earlier this year for an investigative series it published on dangerously defective children’s products.
* 2007 Gallup Poll of Media Usage & Consumer Behavior — Chicago Market (C) 2007, The Gallup Organization, Inc. All rights reserved. ** Omniture, 2007-2008.