If you've ever had even the slightest thing to do with running a business, here's a graph that would send chills up and down your spine. And start you thinking about your next career. Click to see the full horror.What you're seeing on this graph are the weekly circulation numbers for some of the major U.S. newspapers. For a newspaper, circulation is a good proxy for revenue – not just because of subscription revenue, but because their ad revenue is mainly determined by their circulation (and, of course, by demographics).
Looking at this chart, two things reach up and slap you in the face. First, the Wall Street Journal seems to be the only U.S. newspaper that's figured out how to attract readers in the modern era. Second, every other newspaper looks like it's in a death spiral – it can't be too much longer until they close their doors. Of these newspapers, I'm most familiar with the New York Times (I used to be a daily reader) and the Los Angeles Times (more by proximity than for any other reason). As a picky consumer of news and commentary source, I am unsurprised that they are shedding readers – they're publishing junk today compared to what they did as recently as ten years ago.
I would hate to be an executive on one of those newspapers right about now...
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