NYC: Post bigger than Times?

This is really interesting. The New York Post says that its circulation in the city is now bigger (by a pretty good margin) than the New York Times'. There's no mention of the Daily News, so I assume they're ahead, or the Post would be crowing about that.

The fascinating thing is the size of the Times' drop -- down from 320k to 260k between 2001 and 2004, a 19% decline.

This of course is city circulation, and the Times has been following a strategy of turning itself into a national publication. Nonetheless, a big part of their advertising is from local retailers, and the numbers have to be a shocker to them (the Times stopped breaking out local circ figures several years ago -- now we know why).

"The local retail advertiser will care because they've been paying advertising increases of 6 to 9 percent a year every year since 2000," said Shelly Kravitz, president of Plus Media Buying Services in New York.

That means local advertisers are paying 30 percent more to reach a New York audience that has shrunk by almost one-fifth, Kravitz said.

"I'm just amazed at that," he added.