Steep circulation falls for ‘local’ print newspapers continues apace

Local print news continues to decline steeply

Local print newspaper circulation continues to plummet with the Oldham-based Trinity Mirror titles covering Rochdale, Middleton and Heywood declining by as much as 69% since 2010, data compiled by industry body ABC shows.

In the past 12 months alone, the circulation of the Saturday edition of the Rochdale Observer has dropped by over 15% to just 7,490. The Middleton Guardian dropped by 25% to 1,936 and the Heywood Advertiser by over 23% to a mere 1,518.

Since 2010, the Saturday Observer circulation has declined by a massive 57%, with the Heywood Advertiser and Middleton Guardian faring even worse with drops of 66% and 69% respectively.

This pattern has been counterbalanced by increases in the number of people reading local news online - Rochdale Online has seen a staggering increase from 58,000 unique users per month in 2011 to 150,000 in 2017 (Source: Google Analytics).

Launched in June 1998, Rochdale Online celebrates its 20th birthday this year.