• Advertising Age, Monday, March 9, 2009 9:45 AM

Of the 25 biggest weekday newspapers in 1990 -- the year before circulation declines really began -- 21 papers have lost ground. That's no surprise. What is surprising is that four have actually expanded paid circulation. Two are national papers with distinct marketing hooks, USA Today and The Wall Street Journal. One is a money-losing ego play, the New York Post. The fourth is none of the above: The Arizona Republic, with readership up 9%.

The Republic's secret? It is focusing on Sundays where the most ad revenue resides. "We've made every Sunday special -- giving the customer something different, whether it's a special package from the news side or a special promotion we worked on with an advertiser," says John Zidich, publisher.

The paper also raised home-delivery prices all week and dropped costly Sunday circulation serving areas 200 miles away. "We're basically looking at the cost-analysis of every unit of circulation," says Zidich. As other papers prepare for big-print circ declines this year, the Republic is on track to post a narrow circulation increase for Sundays in the upcoming reporting period.

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