Newspaper Association of America reports that for the six-month period ending March 31, 2006, average daily circulation for all 770 newspapers was 45,414,979. This was a decrease of 2.6 percent (from 46,606,337) over the same period a year ago. On Sunday, the average circulation for the 610 newspapers reporting was 48,504,484, a decrease of 3.1 percent (from 50,036,312) over the same period a year ago.

An analysis by the NAA finds that the total combined circulation of the top 50 newspapers represents only about one-third (36 percent) of the total daily newspaper print audience, and about 37 percent of the total Sunday print audience. 

The analysis is based on the latest Fas-Fax data from the Audit Bureau of Circulations and from the Newspaper Audience database (NADbase). “Both circulation and readership are important, valid measures of the newspaper audience, but counting only the number of units sold on a given day obscures the actual use of newspapers and consumer exposure to advertising,” said NAA President and CEO John F. Sturm.

Visit for more details: NAA's ABC FAS-FAX REALEASE