New ABC stats

It's time for the spin doctors to spin the latest Audit Bureau of Circulations data.

The paid circulation stats for participating newspapers covers the 12 months ending Sept. 30, 2006.

The Toronto Sun, an ABC member, must have given up reporting on paid circulation and readership surveys. Yesterday's ABC results were not in today's Toronto Sun and the recent and disastrous PMB Print Measurement Bureau readership numbers were never publicized.

The Globe and Mail was first off the mark with its favourable analysis of the ABC results in a Richard Blackwell business section story. We are quoting Richard's numbers.

Globe and Mail: "The ABC numbers for the 12 months ended Sept. 30, 2006, show The Globe's weekday circulation rose almost 1 per cent to 329,923. On Saturday, the paper's circulation was up almost 2 per cent to 416,584."

National Post: "By contrast, circulation at the National Post fell almost 7 per cent on weekdays to 224,264. On Saturdays, the Post's numbers fell almost 8 per cent to 243,126."

Toronto Star: "The Toronto Star remains by far the biggest circulation paper in the Toronto market, with 441,879 papers distributed on weekdays, a number that fell less than 1 per cent from the previous year. On Saturdays, the Star's circulation fell about 1 per cent, but it still delivered a hefty 638,971 papers on average."

Toronto Sun: "The Toronto Sun remains the laggard in the Toronto market, although its Saturday circulation rose almost 2 per cent to 153,377. On weekdays, the Sun's circulation fell 1 per cent to 190,593. Only the Star and the Sun deliver Sunday papers. At the Star, Sunday circulation was up by a few hundred copies to 446,679. The Sun's Sunday circulation fell about 2 per cent to 326,551."