RIJSWIJK, 04/01/06 - Circulation of most national newspapers continues to fall. In the 2005 third quarter, only Trouw and Het Financieele Dagblad showed growth, according to quarterly figures published yesterday by The Circulation Institute (HOI).

The biggest loser was De Volkskrant, which saw its circulation drop by 12,129 from a year earlier to 288,781 copies. De Telegraaf dipped by over 10,000 to 765,210 copies, while NRC Handelsblad lost 4,134 to 242,463.

The figures for Algemeen Dagblad appear equally discouraging. This newspaper merged with seven regional papers last year. Together, they had 600,000 subscribers, but this is now down to 555,000.

Trouw and Parool managed to book small advances. Both switched to tabloid format - like Algemeen Dagblad. Trouw saw its circulation rise by 2,813 to 104,222, while Het Parool posted a marginal gain to 86,618. Het Financieele Dagblad advanced by 2,376 to 55,697.

Publisher PCM (Trouw, Volkskrant and NRC Handelsblad among others) says it sees a positive future. Special subscriptions also giving access to a subscriber's part on the Internet are not included in the figures, but demand for these is growing, a spokesman noted. The publisher believes the future lies in such subscriptions.

HOI also published the circulation figures for the magazines market yesterday. This market is stable, and in fact grew by 244,000 to 26.2 million copies in the third quarter.