StarTrib Bucks Circulation Trend

Sunday circulation up 5.7%, to 504,616, at Star Tribune

Circulation at both the Minneapolis-based Star Tribune and the St. Paul Pioneer Press bucked national trends and increased during the past six months, or declined less than the rest of the industry, according to the semi-annual report of the Audit Bureau of Circulation.

The Star Tribune's Sunday circulation was up 5.7 percent to 504,616 for the six-month period through September. It was the first Sunday growth since 2004. Publisher Mike Klingensmith attributed the strong Sunday showing to a strategy that makes parts of the Sunday paper available on Saturday. Klingensmith said the newspaper also experienced gains in customer retention and paid e-edition circulation. The Star Tribune is now is the nation's eighth-largest Sunday paper, up from 10th a year ago.

Star Tribune daily circulation declined 2.3 percent to 297,478 year over year but was more than 2,000 copies greater than the March audit report.

Sunday circulation at the Pioneer Press rose 0.21 percent to 247,188 year over year and 0.28 percent on a daily basis to 185,736.

Nationally, daily newspaper circulation declined by 5 percent from a year earlier and Sunday circulation was down 4.5 percent. Both numbers represented smaller declines than those experienced in the first six months of the audit year.