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SEATTLE TIMES SHRINKAGE WATCH
November 1st, 2011 by Clark Humphrey

SeaTimes average paid circulation has shrunk again, to 242,814.

This is according to the latest Audit Bureau of Circulation report, covering the six months ending Sept. 30. This decline is comparable to that of other big-city dailies.

(One exception to this trend: The NY Times, which actually has more Sunday print readers nowadays. That’s because it’s offering “weekender” print subscribers full access to the NYT’s online content, at less than half the price of a web-only subscription.)

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The SeaTimes still plans to vacate its 81-year-old landmark HQ on Fairview Ave. The company now plans to hold on to the site, while offering a “ground lease” deal to developers. If one reads between the lines of the paper’s spokesperson Jill Mackie in the linked story, one can conclude the company hopes to help subsidize the paper’s losses via real-estate profits.

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Before those profits, if any, kick in, there are areas where the already-thin paper could keep shrinking.

The biggest of these is the space given to wire-service stories, particularly on Sunday.

Some local-reporting beats could be turned into blog-like columns, to which assigned reporters would fill a predictable quota of  column-inches every week, whether there’s a big story in that subject area or not.

The SeaTimes could also give up on home delivery for the nearly ad-free Mon.-Wed. papers. (The potential snag to this idea: its recent deal to take over the Everett Herald’s delivery operations.)


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