Digital version newspaper: Implication towards printed newspaper circulation in Malaysia [Akhbar versi digital: Implikasi terhadap trend sirkulasi akhbar bercetak di Malaysia]

Sales depreciation of printed newspaper since 2013 has brought questions on the direction of the nation’s publishing industry. news straits times is noted to have dropped down to an average of 32.4 percent that is 37,885 per day,followed by harian metro,25 percent to 342,689. however,audit bureau of circulation malaysia 2014 (abc malaysia 2014) reported that digital or e-paper – utusan malaysia has shown an increase of 60 percent in subscription to 204,302 while e-digital the star and sunday star e-paper has increased to 64 percent with 81,367 and 81,498 respectively. the question is will the increase in the reading trends via digital version will slowly threaten printed newspaper circulation. thus,this article will look at the trend in the procurement of local mainstream on-line newspaper specifically in the subscription context and its relation to the printed newspaper circulation trend. secondary data analysis showed that abc malaysia noted the total on-line circulation of berita harian,the star and new sunday times have shown multiple growth exceeding 100 percent every six months whilst the circulation of printed newspaper revealed a decline ranging from 10 to 30 percent mainly between 2013 and 2014. it is clearly noted here that the swift growth of digital version newspaper in this nation lately has not given a significant effect towards its circulation income trend. the procurement trend is much influenced by current issues highlighted within the period. © 2015,jurnal komunikasi malaysian journal of communication.all rights reserved.