• by Erik Sass  @eriksass1, October 30, 2012

The total average weekday circulation of American newspapers decreased 0.2% between the middle of 2011 and the middle of 2012, according to the latest report from the Audit Bureau of Circulations, covering the six-month period ending in September. There was some positive news, however, as digital paywalls boosted circs significantly for some publications.

One of the biggest increases resulting from the implementation of paywalls came at The New York Times, whose average weekday circulation jumped 40.3% from 1,150,589 in the six-month period ending September 2011 to 1,613,865 during the same period of 2012. But the NYT was just one of a number of papers registering increases (not all of which can be attributed to paywalls).

At TheLos Angeles Times, average weekday circ jumped 11.9% from 572,998 to 641,369, while The Wall Street Journal grew 9.4% from 2,096,169 to 2,293,798. Among regional newspapers, the Newark Star-Ledger saw weekday circ increase 48.1%; the St. Petersburg Times, 30.4%;; The Honolulu Star Advertiser, 26.3%; the Tampa Tribun,25.4%; the Atlanta Journal-Constitution 25.3%; the Las Vegas Review-Journal, 18.3%; the Denver Post, 16.9; The Boston Globe, 11.9%; and the Chicago Sun-Times, 11%. The New York Post edged up 2.1% .

As in previous quarters, however, there were also plenty of newspapers suffering circulation declines. The Washington Post’s weekday circ sank 9% from 507,465 to 462,228, while USA Today was down 4%, from 1,784,242 to 1,713,833, and the New York Daily News was down 11.5%, from 605,677 to 535,875. Among regional titles, the Miami Herald’s weekday circ fell 15.6%, from 160,505 to 135,533, while the Baltimore Sun fell 10.6%, from 170,510 to 152,397.  Other papers experiencing circulation dips were the Phoenix Republic, down 5.9%; the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, down 6.7%;  and the San Francisco Chronicle, down 3.6%. The Houston Chronicle's circulation decreased 11.9,% while the Philadelphia Inquirer's fell 10.5%.