In 2023, the average weekday print circulation of The New York Times was approximately 279,000 copies, less than half the figure recorded in 2014. In that year, the company ceased publishing its figures based on weekday circulation for print, online, and other digital platforms, and published only its print circulation. The New York Times The New York Times was founded in 1851 and has been a household name in the United States for decades. The newspaper has adapted well to changes in the media industry, and between the final quarters of 2014 and 2020, paid subscribers to The New York Times’ digital only news product increased from 910 thousand to over five million. The New York Times is also one of the world’s leading podcast publishers, with unique streams and downloads of the company’s podcasts reaching tens and sometimes even hundreds of millions per month. Popularity and reliability As one of the most popular news websites in the United States, the NYT has been known to achieve 70 million unique monthly visitors, outperforming the likes of NBC News, The Washington Post, and The Guardian. That said, like many news publications, The New York Times has been the subject of controversy over the years. From accusations of liberal bias to its hiring practices, the newspaper has faced challenges regarding not only its published content but also its employees. In spite of this, just 15 percent of respondents to a survey seriously doubted the credibility of The New York Times, with most finding the publication to be a reliable source.

The average paid print Sunday circulation of the New York Times was 677,000 copies in 2023, down from 745,000 in the previous year. The company's print circulation has been suffering for several years, whilst its digital-only news product has flourished by comparison.

In 2022, The New York Times Company's circulation revenue amounted to more than 1.65 billion U.S. dollars. The company's overall revenue increased consistently between 2012 and 2023, and first surpassed one billion U.S. dollars in 2017. The New York Times has also successfully grown its digital audience.

The New York Times: the switch to digital

As readers moved away from print newspapers to online outlets, The NYT chose to capitalize on this. In early 2014, The New York Times Company’s digital-only news product had fewer than 800 thousand U.S. subscribers, but by the end of 2020 had amassed more than five million.

The NYT online

The company’s website has also performed well in recent years and ranks among the leading global English-language news websites in the United States. NYTimes.com regularly attracts millions of unique visitors each month, and a study on news consumption found that The NYT was one most used online news brands among U.S. adults in early 2021.

This statistic illustrates the share of readers of the New York Times in the past 2 weeks in the United States. As of September 2024, 29 percent of 18 - 29 year old consumers do so in the U.S. This is according to exclusive results from the Consumer Insights Global survey which shows that 25 percent of 30 - 49 year old customers also fall into this category.Statista Consumer Insights offer you all results of our exclusive Statista surveys, based on more than 2,000,000 interviews.

The New York Times Media Group's subscription revenue amounted to over 453 million U.S. dollars in the third quarter of 2024, up from nearly 419 million in the corresponding quarter of 2023. The New York Times' subscription revenue generally grows steadily over the course of each year, and the figure for Q4 2022 marked the first time that the company's quarterly subscription revenue surpassed 400 million U.S. dollars.

The newspaper with the highest print circulation in the United States in the six months running to September 2023 was The Wall Street Journal, with an average weekday print circulation of 555.2 thousand. Ranking second was The New York Times, followed by The New York Post. The paper in the ranking with the highest year-over-year drop in circulation was The Denver Post with a decline of 25 percent (although Buffalo News recorded a higher drop, data does not refer to September 2022 to September 2023, see notes).

A 2022 survey found that 24 percent of Americans believe The New York Times (NYT) to be a very credible source of news and information through its print and digital publications. Just 14 percent seriously doubted the credibility of The New York Times, though a further 10 percent had some reservations about the publication, considering it to be somewhat uncredible. The New York Times The New York Times is one of the most widely read newspapers in the United States and has been a fixture of American print news for over 150 years. The publication has won far more Pulitzer Prizes than any other media company in U.S. history, with its first being awarded for its coverage of World War I, and more recently has been recognized for its investigative dives into gender and race dynamics in the United States.

In addition to generally high perceptions of the publication’s trustworthiness among U.S. citizens, most Americans also find it to be accurate in its reporting. When it comes to business, The NYT has been one of the most successful brands in terms of transitioning from print to digital media offerings, with over five million digital-only subscribers as of early 2021.

There were 10.4 million paid digital subscribers to The New York Times Company in the third quarter of 2024, most of which were bundle and multiproduct subscribers. These subscribers pay for bundle subscription or a standalone online-only subscription to two or more of The NYT's products, and at last count the number of subscribers amounted to over 5.1 million.

Newspaper publisher The New York Times earned 505.21 million U.S. dollars selling advertising space in 2023, marking the second time the figure surpassed 500 million U.S. dollars since 2019. The New York Times Company's total revenue amounted to over 2.4 billion U.S. dollars in 2023, and subscription revenue accounted for over 1.6 billion.

The circulation figures for daily newspapers in the United States reveal that USA Today distributed the most papers as of January 2019, with a daily circulation of over 1.62 million. Back in September 2017, The Wall Street Journal ranked first, with circulation figures far outperforming The New York Times, Chicago Tribune and New York Post. Although the 2019 data shows that all daily newspapers in the top ten ranking saw a decrease in circulation since 2017, the Chicago Tribune was hit the hardest. Despite making the top ten list in both years, the paper’s daily circulation decreased by almost 200 thousand.

The decline of newspaper circulation

It is no secret that print is floundering whilst at the same time digital media is flourishing. However, the impact of falling circulation figures on newspapers has an effect on advertising revenue, as circulation is one of the metrics used to determine and set advertising rates. In 2017, the estimated revenue of newspaper publishers in the United States was almost seven billion dollars lower than in 2010, despite several years of reasonably consistent revenue in terms of subscription and sales.

Similarly, print newspaper publishing revenue in the U.S. dropped by almost ten million dollars in seven years, whilst revenue for online newspapers showed positive growth.

This statistic contains circulation numbers for Newsday. In the six month period ending March 31, 2013, the average weekday circulation was 377,744 copies.

Average paid circulation of Newsday Newsday is an American daily newspaper that was founded in 1940 and is based in Melville, New York. Its news division focuses on Nassau and Suffolk counties with additional emphases on parts of Long Island, Queens, as well as Rockland and Westchester counties. It was founded by the daughter of the New York Daily News Founder, Alicia Peterson, who received funding from her husband at the time, Harry Guggenheim. It is now a subsidiary of Cablevision which purchased the paper for $650 million in 2008. It has won 19 Pulitzer Prizes over the course of its history and has a reputable history despite its tabloid style formatting. Even with a solid content base, though, the paper has not been an exception to the industry trend of reduced circulation and readership numbers. Fortunately, it has been able to establish a relatively healthy internet presence with the fourth highest circulation of digital newspaper editions, falling behind only the Wall Street Journal, New York Times, and New York Daily News. This online presence will continue to be make-or-break as print newspaper readership numbers continue their steady and expected declines. One area where Newsday has shown positive trends is with its Sunday edition. While it has experienced on-going declines in circulation and readership numbers, by 2012 the number of readers had leveled out and actually grew slightly over the fall of 2011. Though this is unlikely to begin a new trend, it does provide some hope that in the right publishing markets with adept marketing and content focus, some newspapers may be here to stay.

Circulation numbers for daily weekday newspapers peaked in 1987 when they amounted to over 62.82 million. In 2020 however, the paid circulation of daily newspapers was 24.29 million.

Paid circulation of US daily newspapers Since the beginning of the 21st century, the newspaper industry has felt vast repercussions from the transition to the digital information and technology economy. While the number of subscribers and overall circulation has always been important for newspaper publishers, for much of their history they have been supported primarily through their advertising revenues and despite growth in advertising overall, they have largely been unable to capitalize on the continued ad spend growth. Advertising spending in the United States is now predominantly attributed to online advertising.

The New York Times is one of America's biggest newspapers and, despite the decline of the print newspaper industry, the paper has maintained a paid Sunday circulation of over one million copies. As a result, the company's circulation revenue has, despite the bleak outlook of the market, actually increased in recent years, reaching 880 million U.S. dollars in 2016. The New York Times Company recognized the important of the growing digital market and, as a result, the company's digital only news product remains one of its most important segments. As of the end of 2016, this product had over 1.6 million subscribers, a large increase from the 800 thousand subscribers at the start of 2014.

As of June 2024, The Wall Street Journal had over 4.3 million paying subscribers. The majority were online-only subscribers, whilst print readers continued to fall. The Wall Street Journal The Wall Street Journal is a well-respected international newspaper that focuses on business, economics, and politics. The publication is generally seen as a trustworthy source of news and information, with about twice as many people deeming it trustworthy as those that consider it untrustworthy. While measures of trustworthiness can suffer from bias associated with political leanings, accuracy is generally more easily verifiable and thus arguably a better metric for assessing publications of any type. In terms of accuracy, the Wall Street journal ranks extremely high with only around ten percent of people finding it to be inaccurate. Newspaper circulation The Wall Street Journal, as well as The NYTimes, have both successfully managed to cater to both print and digitally focused consumers by becoming multiplatform publications. This is an undoubtedly clever (and perhaps necessary) move in an era where print popularity has waned significantly, as digital readership takes over. The accessibility of smartphone news apps and online news publications have made it difficult for physical newspapers to compete, and although the majority of newspaper circulation revenue still comes from print offerings, companies that wish to continue in the market have been forced to adapt their business strategies to accommodate online-only readers.

According to the most recently available data, there were 1,279 daily newspapers in the United States in 2018. The number of daily newspapers in the U.S. has been on the decline since 1970, when there were 1,748 daily news publications in the country. However, given the ongoing struggle of print media around the world, a decrease of around 460 newspapers over several decades is more positive than many might expect.

Daily newspapers in the U.S.

Whilst the actual number of daily newspapers has remained comparatively stable since the 1970s, the same cannot be said for circulation figures. In 2017, the paid circulation of daily newspapers in the United States amounted to 30.92 million, more than half the figure recorded for 1985. Even the major players in the industry are suffering – Chicago Tribune’s daily circulation fell from just over 438 thousand in September 2017 to 238 thousand in early 2019. Household names like The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal also saw a sharp drop in circulation figures, leaving little hope for smaller publications.

News consumers and the reluctance to pay

Media markets across the world have become saturated with digital alternatives to print, and U.S. consumers can now access news content, gossip columns and reports on the latest sports games from a variety of sources, rendering daily newspapers in particular less valuable and sought after than ever before. The reasons to pick up a newspaper on your daily commute when the information you seek is available online are becoming hazy – why pay for print when you can get the digital version for free? In fact, a 2018 study revealed that the vast majority of surveyed U.S. adults had not paid for any local news content in the last year.

However, a small solace for print-only news outlets is that even digital news providers are not completely safe from consumers’ reluctance to pay. A report revealed that the wealth of free content available was the main reason why U.S. consumers were unwilling to pay for online news.

Sadly, the future situation for print outlets does not look bright, and for news providers in general there lies a constant uphill struggle to maintain integrity, prove accuracy and capture the attention of new and current consumers alike.

The statistic shows data on print media circulation worldwide in 2014, by medium. According to McKinsey, consumer magazines circulation totaled 1.1 million units in 2014.

Print media circulation worldwide – additional information

With the growing popularity of the internet and the increasing use of digital platforms for news consumption, the decline of newspapers has been a constant topic in the print media industry. As of 2014, the circulation of daily newspapers totaled 540 million units worldwide. The U.S. is one of the most important markets for the print media industry, as the country is home of the top 3 newspapers in terms of circulation – USA Today, the Wall Street Journal and New York Times. The number of daily newspapers in the U.S. hit the lowest figure to date in 2014 – 1,331. In the early 80s, there were more than 1,700 daily newspapers in the country. Print subscriptions accounted for 93 percent of the revenue generated by newspaper circulation in the U.S., whereas digital subscriptions contributed to seven percent of the total circulation revenue. By 2017, digital subscriptions are forecast to account for 22 percent of newspaper circulation revenue in the country.

While newspapers have struggled with the transition between digital and print, consumer magazines have seen a more optimistic scenario in the last few years. Consumer magazines circulation worldwide added up to 1.1 billion units in 2014. The number of magazines in the U.S. has remained fairly consistent over the years, varying between around 7,100 and 7,400 between 2008 and 2014. Consumer magazines have seen a small decline in the circulation revenue in North America though, as revenue is projected to decrease from about nine billion U.S. dollars in 2011 to around 8.2 billion U.S. dollars in 2016. AARP, Better Homes and Gardens, Cosmopolitan, ESPN the Magazine and Family Circle are some of the leading magazines in terms of circulation in the U.S.

The New York Times had 10.8 million digital subscribers as of February 2025, making the publication the global leader in this regard, followed by Substack and The Wall Street Journal with four million and 3.8 million online news subscribers respectively. Digital subscriptions – the future for news publishers? Subscriptions were cited as the most important digital revenue stream for publishers worldwide in every year from 2021 to 2023, ahead of advertising. As subscriptions have increased, customer retention has also become a growing concern, and according to the aforementioned subscriber losses experienced by The Washington Post, is a well-founded one. Retaining paying members is crucial to achieve growth, and publishers must keep abreast of their users’ needs and industry trends in order to do this. The challenge to achieve sign-ups Converting readers to becoming paying subscribers to news products is challenging. Even video streaming services are experiencing churn. A 2022 survey revealed that 20 percent of U.S. subscribers aged 18 to 34 years old canceled between two and five subscriptions in the three months running up to the survey. If consumers are sacrificing more popular entertainment subscriptions to save money, news subscriptions could also suffer. In fact, 28 percent of U.S. subscribers canceled their news subscription* in the last year, a figure which could grow higher as the recession worsens and trust continues to fall.

The graph shows leading daily newspapers with paywalls in the United States from April to September 2014, by number of paid restricted access website accounts. In that time period, Los Angeles Times ranked fourth with nearly 60 thousand paid restricted access website accounts. Digital publishing – additional information

The New York Times has been the most successful American daily when it comes to attracting readers willing to pay for its online content. The paywall, which was introduced in March 2011, allows users to read 20 articles a month for free. Once that limit has been reached, users are required to pay in order to read more articles. According to the New York Times Company’s own data, the number of paid subscribers to its digital-only products amounted to 990 thousand in the second quarter of 2015; a steady growth since its implementation. Circulation revenue now exceeds the advertising revenue. ). The New York Times seems to belong to a successful minority. During a survey in late 2013, more publishers admitted that the introduction of the paywall led to a decrease of traffic on their website. This was the experience of a third of the respondents, whereas a quarter stated the paywall boosted the traffic. Most publishers allow their readers to view five or ten free articles a month, which makes the aforementioned New York Times model of 20 articles more than generous in comparison. In general, the U.S. digital publishing industry is expected to thrive. Between the period 2014 to 2020, revenues are predicted to nearly double, generating approximately 10.3 billion U.S. dollars. Among three major types of digital publishing products – e-books, e-magazines and e-newspapers – it is the latter that will develop the most rapidly over the aforementioned period of time.

As of 2018, the National Enquirer, an American tabloid newspaper, had a total circulation of around 265 thousand readers. The publication’s overall circulation has experienced year after year of decline, with the total number nearly halving since the 516 thousand reported in 2014. In addition to the recent struggles grappled with by many print media publications, the National Enquirer has experienced added difficulty due to its alleged involvement in a multitude of recent scandals.

 Newspaper industry

Thanks in part to the growing popularity and influence of web-based news sources, print newspapers have suffered decades of declining readership and circulation. The problem doesn’t seem to lie in the content or quality of these publications, but rather in the added convenience and accessibility offered by digital news platforms. Even the most successful publications in the United States such as The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, and The Washington Post have seen their circulation decrease. Despite the struggles of the print format, many newspaper brands have introduced digital versions of their products, some of which have acquired hundreds of thousands of subscribers in a relatively short period of time.

The Washington Post's credibility fared relatively well in 2022, with a survey revealing that 48 percent of respondents believed the publication to be very or somewhat credible. The Washington Post’s credibility rating was slightly lower than that of The New York Times, and the paper also lost out to The Wall Street Journal in this regard.

The Washington Post

Founded in 1877, The Washington Post has been running for over 140 years and has won a number of Pulitzer Prizes for its employees’ editing, criticism and reporting work over the last century. The publication is one of the leading daily newspapers in the United States, and its circulation figures are good considering the decline of print media in recent years. The Washington Post has moved with the times and made the necessary shift towards digital along with many print outlets, with positive results. The newspaper has a large number of digital only subscribers worldwide and is among the most popular news brands in the United States. The Washington Post frequently ranks in the top five news brands in terms of monthly users, along with the likes of The New York Times, CNN and FOX News.

The Washington Post is perhaps best known for its coverage of the Watergate Scandal in the 1970s led by reporters Carl Bernstein and Bob Woodward. Whilst several attempts were made to discredit the newspaper’s investigations and subsequent reports, many consider the Post’s investigation of Watergate to have significantly contributed to President Nixons’s resignation.

In December 2024, the news website with the most monthly visits in the United States was nytimes.com, with a total of 463.07 million monthly visits in that month. In second place was cnn.com with close to 357 million visits, followed by foxnews.com with just over a quater of a million. Online news consumption in the U.S. Americans get their news in a variety of ways, but social media is an increasingly popular option. A survey on social media news consumption revealed that 55 percent of Twitter users regularly used the site for news, and Facebook and Reddit were also popular for news among their users. Interestingly though, social media is the least trusted news sources in the United States. News and trust Trust in news sources has become increasingly important to the American news consumer amidst the spread of fake news, and the public are more vocal about whether or not they have faith in a source to report news correctly. Ongoing discussions about the credibility, accuracy and bias of news networks, anchors, TV show hosts, and news media professionals mean that those looking to keep up to date tend to be more cautious than ever before. In general, news audiences are skeptical. In 2020, just nine percent of respondents to a survey investigating the perceived objectivity of the mass media reported having a great deal of trust in the media to report news fully, accurately, and fairly.