Washington Post 2009 Annual Report Download - page 27

and as estimated by the Post for the 52-week period ended September 27, 2009, (for which period ABC had not
completed its audit as of the date of this report), from the semiannual publisher’s statements submitted to ABC for the
26-week periods ended March 29, 2009 and September 27, 2009:
Average Paid Circulation
Daily Sunday
2007 ................................. 657,918 912,433
2008 ................................. 639,474 878,110
2009 ................................. 615,628 845,587
The Post’s primary circulation territory accounts for more than 90% of its daily and Sunday circulation and consists of
Washington, DC, and communities generally within a 50-mile radius from the city (but excluding Baltimore City and its
northern and eastern suburbs). The current newsstand price is $0.75 for the daily newspaper and $2.00 for the Sunday
newspaper in this area. The rate charged for each four-week period for home-delivered copies of the daily and Sunday
newspaper was raised to $21.56 effective January 18, 2010. The rate charged for Sunday-only home delivery was
raised to $7.40 for each four-week period effective January 18, 2010. On June 1, 2009, daily and Sunday newsstand
prices were raised from $0.75 to $1.00 and from $2.00 to $2.50, respectively, outside the primary circulation area.
Rates for home-delivered copies of the daily and Sunday newspaper outside the primary circulation area for each four-
week period are $34.00 and are $10.00 for the Sunday newspaper only. From March 2, 2009, through January 17,
2010, newsstand and home-delivery prices in certain counties outside the greater Washington area were $0.75 daily
and $2.00 on Sunday. As of January 18, 2010, prices in these counties are the same as those in areas outside the
primary circulation area.
With the final issue date of December 21/28, 2009, WP Company ceased publication of The Washington Post
National Weekly Edition, a tabloid that contained selected articles and features from The Washington Post edited for a
national audience. The National Weekly Edition had a basic subscription price of $78.00 per year and was delivered
by second-class mail to approximately 11,348 subscribers.
The Post’s subscriber loyalty program, PostPoints, has approximately 173,000 members. The program allows readers to
earn points, exchangeable for rewards, through a variety of activities centered on interacting with The Washington Post in
print and online, shopping at participating advertisers and helping the community.
The Post closed its printing plant located in Prince George’s County, MD, in July 2009. Printing operations have been
consolidated in the Fairfax County, VA, printing plant.
In January 2010, the Post’s print and online operations were integrated. As a result, WP Company now publishes
washingtonpost.com, an Internet site that currently features much of the full editorial text of The Washington Post and most
of the Post’s classified advertising, as well as original content, blogs written by Post reporters and others, interactive
discussions hosted by Post reporters and outside subject experts, user-generated comments and content obtained from
other sources.
As measured by WP Company, this site averaged more than 250 million page views per month and had an average of
23.9 million unique visitors per month during 2009. Washingtonpost.com also features extensive information about
activities, groups and businesses in the Washington, DC, area, including arts and entertainment and news focusing on
politics and on technology businesses and related policy issues. This site has developed a substantial audience of users
who are outside the Washington, DC, area, and WP Company believes, based on analytical data, that approximately
87% of the unique users who access the site each month are in that category. WP Company provides online advertisers
with a wide range of options, including to advertise on selected pages or page combinations or to specific geographic
areas and demographic groups. WP Company also provides content on websites specially formatted to be downloaded
and displayed on web-enabled cell phones and other personal digital devices.
WP Company has about 548 full-time editors, reporters and photographers on its staff, of which 77 were formerly part of
the online operations. WP Company draws upon the news reporting facilities of the major wire services, maintains a
network of correspondents and contract writers in international news centers and maintains reporters in nine local news
bureaus.
The Los Angeles Times-Washington Post News Service disbanded at the end of 2009. On January 1, 2010,
WP Company and Bloomberg News launched The Washington Post News Service with Bloomberg News, which offers
a selection of content from the Post and Bloomberg News stories to newspapers and other subscribers daily.
WP Company owns an interest in Classified Ventures, a newspaper industry company that offers online classified
advertising databases for cars and apartment rentals. Washingtonpost.com provides links to the Classified Ventures’
2009 FORM 10-K 13