I remember before Internet broadband took off, the total paid circulation for The Boston Sunday Globe was about 625,000 copies. The Sunday want ads were essential, as was the real estate section. The first section of the paper featured full-page display ads for department stores. Every car dealership had ads in the auto section, and every retailer had a slick flyer insert. Print circulation is now less than one quarter of what I remember, and there are only about 250,000 digital subscriptions.
