[ipv6ipv4]

In 1830, I believe most papers were weekly. So your percentage is missing a multiplier that could be fairly substantial.

And by 1850 the number of newspapers (still mostly weeklies) nearly tripled with an annual circulation of 500 million.

[Mathnerd314]

https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2017/06/01/circulati... says it is at around the 1940's level in absolute terms. If you do per capita it works out to 30% for 1940 vs. 12% in 2015. I think it's safe to assume that per-capita or not, the circulation curve is ∩-shaped. But naturally, the historical timeframe that today's level of news readership is most comparable to is a matter of debate and speculation - all that matters is that it has not yet regressed to the point where it is nonexistent, and the decline/stagnation started before the internet.