San Francisco Chronicle Pursues A More Select Audience

A huge circulation drop is part of the grand plan.

The Chronicle said Monday that remaking its business model by charging more for the newspaper has, as expected, produced a sharp drop in circulation even as it has improved the paper's bottom line.

For the six months ending in March, the Audit Bureau of Circulations reported Monday that The Chronicle's daily circulation declined 22.7 percent, from 312,118 to 241,330, the largest decline among the nation's top 25 newspapers.

Weekday circulation nationwide went down 8.7 percent, and 6.5 percent on Sundays.

Mark Adkins, president of The Chronicle, said the circulation decline was an anticipated result of significant increases in the price of the newspaper intended to reshape its business model.

I've often joked that the secret to success is to have low expectations. Who knew that it would also serve as a business model.

Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2010/04/27/BU8D1D533A.DTL#ixzz0mJ5ehb1n