Digital gains helped the Chicago Tribune show circulation increases in the semiannual report released Thursday by the Alliance for Audited Media.
Average weekday circulation for the Chicago Tribune was 439,731, up 6 percent over last year, while Sunday circulation was 789,915, a 1.1 percent gain. Digital circulation was up 68,326 for weekdays and 58,660 on Sunday.
The online gains offset declining print circulation for the Tribune. Weekday print circulation was down 11.8 percent, while Sunday print saw a 7.1 percent decline.
Verified digital users may be counted toward circulation totals for newspapers with online pay walls, like the Tribune has. Registered print subscribers who also access the digital edition at least once every 30 days are considered two circulation units, according to AAM.
The Tribune launched its digital subscription program in November 2012. A memo to employees Thursday said it now has more than 715,000 registered users on chicagotribune.com, up 22,000 from six months ago.
Traffic on chicagotribune.com averaged more than 120 million monthly page views during the period, with mobile viewing accounting for 30 percent of that total, according to the memo.
The AAM report covers the six months ending March 31 and measures total average circulation for 610 U.S. newspapers, including print, digital and branded editions. Daily newspapers with circulation above 50,000 are no longer required to provide a five-day average, a change implemented during the previous reporting period.
About 300 newspapers, including the Chicago Tribune, reported weekday averages.
The top three U.S. newspapers by total average circulation are: USA Today (3,255,157), Wall Street Journal (2,294,093) and New York Times (2,149,012), according to AAM.
The Chicago Sun-Times did not report average weekly circulation for the period. The paper and its branded suburban editions saw year-over-year declines on every day, with its Sunday print and digital circulation dropping 15.7 percent to 342,195.
rchannick@tribune.com
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