Peninsula Daily News’ Monday through Friday circulation has hit a record high, averaging 16,665 for the first time in the newspaper’s history.
For Sunday circulation, the PDN rose to 18,043, its highest total ever for the fall and winter — and only 34 copies below an all-time Sunday circulation record set during spring-summer 2002.
It is the fifth straight year in a row that the PDN has shown increases in paid subscriptions and single-copy sales in Jefferson and Clallam counties.
Sequim and eastern Jefferson County, including Port Townsend, account for most of the circulation growth.
The PDN publishes separate daily editions in Jefferson and Clallam counties.
The PDN also circulates a weekly advertising-only shopper, Olympic Marketplace, to 14,400 homes from Hood Canal to LaPush.
The PDN’s increases are part of a twice-yearly report from the Audit Bureau of Circulations, an national company that audits newspaper-readership numbers.
Only verified circulation
The PDN is the only newspaper published on the North Olympic Peninsula that has its circulation figures verified by an independent agency.
“Setting an all-time circulation record is remarkable,” said PDN publisher and editor John Brewer.
“Few newspapers in the entire country can make that claim this year.
“We’ve invested a lot to make this a newspaper that people want to read, and it is encouraging to see this reflected in our circulation figures.”
The ABC reports compare a six-month average for the current year to the same period of the previous year.
The PDN’s paid subscriptions and single-copy sales increased 4 percent Monday through Friday over October through March 2002. Sunday’s circulation rose by 2.5 percent during that same period. The all-time Sunday record of 18,077 was set during the six-month period that ended Sept. 30, 2002.
The total average paid circulation of the 814 newspapers reporting to the Audit Bureau of Circulations was 49.97 million, down 0.1 percent from 50.02 million in the same period a year ago.
Among the top 20 papers, the New York Post had the greatest change, increasing its circulation 10.2 percent from a year ago. The New York Times and The Boston Globe had circulation declines of 5.3 percent and 6.3 percent respectively.
The PDN had the second-highest percentage increase of all audited newspapers in Washington, Oregon and Idaho. The leader was The Seattle Times. Its daily circulation rose 4.9 percent, while the Seattle Post-Intelligencer’s dropped 5.1 percent, the audit bureau said.
The Bremerton Sun’s daily circulation rose 0.2 percent, and The Daily Olympian in Olympia fell 2.3 percent.
The combined Seattle Times/Post-Intelligencer Sunday circulation rose 0.3 percent. The Olympian dropped 1.1 percent for Sunday, and the Bremerton Sun fell 1.3 percent.
