NYT notes newsstand
declines for a number of key celebrity and women’s magazines. MIN’s Steve Cohen
points out that sales were not helped by lack of big events in 1H (royal baby
birth should help 2H sales)…Ad Age includes comments from Hearst Magazines’
John Loughlin, who points out newsstand gains by Woman’s Day (+23.1%), Food
Network Magazine (+12.1%) and Good Housekeeping (+6.5%)…Capital NY notes that
New York magazine and The New Yorker saw 22.6% and 17.7% gains in single-copy
sales, which both attribute primarily to increases in digital single-copy
sales. Print newsstand represents small portions of total circ for both (16,070
out of 408,822 for New York; 30,685 out of 1,055,962 for TNY). Piece also
notes Time’s 1.2% newsstand gain…Adweek notes large overall circ gains for
several gun magazines…MPA chief Mary Berner issued a statement on the AAM data
offering the broader context. Points out that AAM’s titles represent roughly a
third of the total magazine audience; that AAM reports on 390 titles that have
single-copy sales, vs. a U.S. universe of about 7,000 titles; that overall
newsstand is about 10% of total magazine circulation. Berner says newsstand
trends reflect contraction in traditional retail outlets where magazines are
sold, economic weakness, reduced discretionary spending. Notes that 23% (91)
AAM titles reported single-copy sales gains; 56% (217 titles) saw subscription
gains; and 30% (170 out of total 390) saw increases in total circulation. Also
cites stats showing magazine media audiences are growing.
Women and family lifestyle titles show the most stable growth potential amongst the top 25 consumer titles. Specifically, Family Fun Magazine grew its total circulation by 7.3 percent.
Spanish language titles continue to uptick in 2013 with both print and digital circulations. For instance, Vanidades expanded its total circulation by 57.2 percent, and its digital subscription base is nearly 15 percent the size of its print circulation. A similar trend is noticeable in many niche and enthusiast titles as well.
The top 25 consumer magazines by digital circulation size are a mixed bag, with Game Informer Magazine leading the way at just under 3 million subscriptions. But the disparity from 1 to 25 is vast, with last-place People only reaching 73,181 digital subscribers. Nevertheless, all or at least most content categories are represented in the top 25, which suggests digital magazines have become appealing to a broad audience.
