For the first time, newspapers made more money from circulation than from advertising.

Pew reports that according to an analysis of Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) filings of publicly traded newspaper companies, newspapers' top source of revenue is circulation.

One needs to go all the way back to the groovy 1960s to find a time when American newspapers had more annual revenue from advertising than from circulation.

But with ad revenue in a fall off a mountain type decline, circulation revenue has held steady and finally has become more critical in 2020.

The estimated total US daily newspaper circulation (print and digital combined) in 2020 was 24.3 million for weekdays and 25.8 million for Sundays, each down 6% from the previous year.

Interestingly, the estimated circulation peak of US daily newspapers happened at 63.1 million in 1973.