The Chicago Tribune Monday reported advertising gains for the fourth quarter that run counter to the stagnant, even dismal, performance of many papers nationwide.
The Tribune increases, including a retail advertising boost, were described in an announcement that included an interim circulation statement filed with the Audit Bureau of Circulations in Schaumburg.
Newspapers file two circulation statements each year, at the end of March and September, for the previous six-month periods. Publishers need not file an interim three-month statement with the independent auditing agency, and such filings tend to indicate that the filer has positive news it wants to spread, notably to advertisers.
According to the unaudited results, the Tribune`s average daily circulation rose 3,595 copies, to 739,116; Saturday rose 741, to 623,986; and Sunday rose 6,557, to 1,134,949. In each case the gain was less than 1 percent.
The paper said total inches of ads increased 3.3 percent on a year-to-year basis. That included a 7.1 percent hike in retail during a period in which retail was poor nationwide.
The paper`s share of total advertising placed in the Tribune and the Chicago Sun-Times was said to have risen to 69.2 percent, up from 67.8 percent a year earlier. A Sun-Times spokesman could not be reached.
Nationwide, many papers had poor fourth quarters. The Tribune appears to have outpaced most of the largest papers.
”It`s good to know somebody is doing well,” said Richard Katz, an analyst at Shearson Lehman Brothers, speculating that the paper ”must have had a helluva December.”
One possible motivation behind filing the interim circulation statement is that the first quarter of 1992 may not be as strong as last year`s. Newspaper sales surged in the 1991 first quarter because of high public interest in the Persian Gulf War.
