Newsman Notes Pathetic Kansas City Star Subscriptions Still Fading

Tonight longtime local newsman JimmyC shares important circulation numbers regarding the so-called paper-of-record for Kansas City, Missouri.

The main takeaway . . .

NOBODY IS READING THE KANSAS CITY STAR & IT'S A NICHE PUBLICATION AT BEST!!!

After our bombastic, red letter note we typically rant about dead-tree media and the decline of newsprint in general . . . But consider that other papers like the Wall Street Journal and the NYT have manged to leverage their print standing into remarkable, revenue-generating publications. Meanwhile, The Star was caught waiting for the Internets to run its course like other broadcast media . . . That didn't happen. The Internets and then social media took away THE LION'S SHARE of their readers and nobody is ever going back to the days reading scraps of paper in order to gain an understanding of the world. 

Given that most readers are checking the news by way of the Internets . . . Some might dare say (dare, dare!!!) that The Star is pretty much just another blog.

Here's a quick passage and worthwhile info that puts the damage in perspective . . .

"The Star’s circulation reports to the Alliance for Audited Media, a trade publication financed by the publications it serves, are a big muddle and have been for years . . . For the six-month period ending March 31, The Star reported 14,512 paid, “digital replica” subscriptions, meaning subscriptions that give the subscriber the ability to see the print edition online . . . Print circulation is hardly worth talking about any more. As of March 31, paid Sunday print circulation was down to 45,349, 16 percent of what it was in the year 2010 — just 12 years ago — when paid Sunday circulation stood at 283,000."

We suggest reading all of the insights that Fitz has to offer. 

The bottom line . . .

Many bloggers, vloggers and social media influencers have just as much reach as the Kansas City newspaper and the publication no longer qualifies as a local "institution" given that it's a shadow of its former self. 

Read more via www.TonysKansasCity.com link . . .

The Kansas City Star's shell game with circulation figures

From all appearances -- hiring new people and hiring a well-credentialed editorial page editor -- The Star is making money, but I'll be damned if I can figure out how. I've tracked The Star's circulation figures for years, and they just keeping looking worse. The Star's circulation reports to the Alliance for Audited Media, a...