Communications Regulatory Authority

Table 1.16. Average circulation of daily newspapers by main types (thousands of
copies)
2004 2003 % Var.
Economics 453 471 -3.82
Top ten information dailies 2.685 2.737 -1.90
Sports 783 818 -4.28
Source: Informativa Economica di Sistema (Media & Communications Industry
Database)
As shown in the following table, average circulation for free press daily newspapers was
1.59 million copies in 2004.
Table 1.17. Average circulation of free-press daily newspapers (thousands of
copies)
2004 2003 % Var.
Leggo 622 625 -0.48
City 515 482 6.85
Metro 311 324 -4.01
Source: Informativa Economica di Sistema (Media & Communications Industry
Database)
As regards data concerning the distribution of publishing product on sale it is to
be pointed out the growth of copies sold through sales channels different from
newsagents and subscriptions, namely by shops. In 2004 dailies sold through alternative
sales channels were 84 million, with an increase from 2% to 4% of the total of copies
sold.
However, the newsagent is still the main sales channel with a percentage on total
sales of 86.26%. Subscriptions account for 8.46% of the total copies sold in Italy.
Finally, on average, total copies sold account for 61% of published copies net of
printing rejects. This value goes up in relation to the growth of copies sold: for the first
10 newspapers as to circulation, the average ratio is 74%.
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