Newspaper circulation continues to plummet and readership is not doing much better, with most newspapers suffering significant falls in the second half of 2013, ending another dismal year of double-digit decline.

The Age was the worst performing metro, its circulation falling 8.6 per cent in the past six months (and 17 per cent for the year), closely followed by fellow Fairfax title the Sydney Morning Herald, down 7.56 per cent and The West Australian which offset earlier good performances (down only 5.5 per cent the whole year) to drop 7.16 per cent. The Australian fared best, but still fell by 3.9 per cent.

Circulation in some regional titles held up better, the Sunshine Coast Daily was down only one per cent and the Gold Coast Bulletin actually gained one per cent, but the Illawarra Mercury was down 8.74 per cent.

[Related: Magazine circulation]

There was some better news for digital sales, with growth across the board, which helped some newspapers overcome their print sales declines, with The Australian grew 0.5 per cent.

The Age and SMH posted large gains, but this was greatly inflated by the launch of their paywalls that drove digital sales up by well over 100 per cent for the third quarter alone.

However, Mumbrella writer Tim Burrows argues the growth of digital sales is unlikely to offset print circulation falls in the long run as sales have slowed drastically – The Australian only adding 928 digital subscribers in the final quarter and the Heard Sun losing 97 – and is probably just loyal readers signing up after the paywalls.

He estimates digital sales only equate to $11m a year for The Australian and $40m a year for both Fairfax titles, small potatoes for large media companies.

Readership figures were generally better but still mostly headed in a negative direction, even if the latest emma six-monthly print readership and Roy Morgan full year results disagreed wildly in some cases – most notably the Daily Telegraph which emma gave 54 per cent more readers.

SMH again led the fall, down 15.7 per cent for Roy Morgan and 4.9 per cent for emma, The Australian down 14.4 and 4.4 per cent, The Townsville Bulletin down 38 and 9.57 per cent, and the Gold Coast Bulletin, which gained circulation, down 11.3 and 7.2 per cent.

Some were up however, the Canberra Times added 2.6 and 3.9 per cent and The West Australian three and 0.6 per cent.

Emma also published combined print and digital readership for a few titles with some posting improvements, like the Canberra times (up 12.6 per cent) and the Sunshine Coast Daily (up 7.5 per cent), but most were still headed down.

The Newspaper Works chief executive Mark Hollands says the value of digital sales and readership should not be understated as both print and online editions support each other and help circulation.

He says critics of digital subscription rates have judged too quickly as newspaper publishers have not waged any serious mass campaigns for digital sales.

"It might not be the right time to do it yet because not everyone has an iPad, but I'm optimistic that when it happens it will pull in a lot of subscribers," he says.

"The game has only just started but people think they are looking at the results."

Comment below to have your say on this story.

If you have a news story or tip-off, get in touch at editorial@sprinter.com.au.  

Sign up to the Sprinter newsletter