The Guardian started hiding its print circulation
August was the last month that The Guardian announced the print circulation numbers; from now on only advertisers will have access to the figures.
Following a trend that started by the UK’s Telegraph, Sun and Times, The Guardian and Observer will continue to be audited by the industry data organisation ABC, but the public will have no visibility on the print reach of the newspapers.
According to the public ABC data, in 2019 The Guardian revenues were split 50/50 between the print and the digital subscriptions, but since then the trend has been weighting fiercely in favour of the digital subscription side.
We have taken the decision to be privately audited by the ABC, effective from August 2021’s monthly report, and to focus on metrics which more accurately reflect our diversity of journalism, readership and business strategy’ a spokesman told the UK’s Press Gazette
The newspaper though did not elaborate how publishing their print circulation numbers prevented them from reflecting accurately the abovementioned metrics.
Given that the print data are shared with advertisers, the move is reasonably intended to protect how the brand is perceived by the public. Print circulation numbers were traditionally public in the markets, with papers even hosting special columns with the industry’s performance.
Such a move, in an era where the trust in media is constantly challenged, can only create more problems than the ones trying to address.
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