The News Tribune’s total readership grew by nearly 8 percent in the last year according to new statistics released Monday.

That percentage increase, 7.94 percent, put The News Tribune in sixth place in percentage increases among daily papers in the country, according to industry publication Editor & Publisher. Total readership includes all persons who either read the print paper or view its contents online.

That readership jump came despite a decline in Monday-through-Friday print circulation of 14.8 percent to 90,546 in the six months ending in September according to the Audit Bureau of Circulations and Scarborough Research.

Christian Lee, The News Tribune’s vice president of circulation, said that drop in circulation was countered by more online viewing of News Tribune content.

In Pierce County, the number of unique online viewers rose by 13,013 from the six-month average ending September 2008 to the average in the six months ending in September 2009.

Between the online and print editions of the paper, 63.8 percent of Pierce County residents viewed News Tribune content during a seven-day period in September this year.

In a larger area including Seattle and reaching as far south as Lewis County, 603,672 unique readers read The News Tribune online or in print, according to the new figures.

The News Tribune’s print circulation figures mirrored nationwide trends. Nationwide, daily print circulation among the nation’s 379 newspapers dropped 10.6 percent, compared with the same six-month period in 2008.

Most Western Washington newspapers saw circulation declines during the latest six-month period. Seattle Times circulation grew by 32.6 percent in that period, but compared with the combined circulation of the Times and the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, the Times circulation was down 16.7 percent to 263,588. The P-I has halted print circulation.

Circulation at The News Tribune’s sister paper, The Olympian, fell by 8.2 percent during the period.

John Gillie, The News Tribune