The first half of 2008 proved to be most unkind to the magazine business, with newsstand sales taking a pounding from consumers rocked by soaring gas prices and falling home prices.
Single-copy sales of magazines fell 6.3 percent, paced by big declines for many of the weekly gossip rags and fashion mags, according to data released yesterday by the Audit Bureau of Circulations.
Leading the newsstand plunge were Top 25 consumer titles In Touch and Life & Style, which fell 28.6 percent and 30.2 percent, respectively.
Both titles ‘fessed up in advance of the numbers that they would miss their rate bases, or minimum circulation levels promised to advertisers.
In Touch’s total paid circulation was off 27.1 percent, while Life & Style was off 29.9 percent.
Also down at the newsstand were Wenner Media’s Us Weekly, which sank 10 percent (but was up 1.3 percent in total paid circulation); Vogue, which slipped 14.7 percent (and was down 6 percent in total paid); and Cosmopolitan, which fell 6.1 percent (but was up 0.8 percent in total paid). O, The Oprah Magazine fell 17 percent in newsstand sales and 1.7 percent in total paid circulation.
Industry-wide total paid circulation was up 0.3 percent, while total verified subscriptions – a category that includes waiting-room copies and other copies that don’t require payment – were up 15.8 percent.
People and OK! led the notables to buck the trend, rising 5.2 percent (up 1.7 percent total paid) and 19.4 percent (up 11.8 percent), respectively.
Among the newsweeklies, Time fell 7 percent (down 0.3 percent total paid) and Newsweek plunged 17.3 percent (down 12.8 percent).
Condé Nast’s Vanity Fair was up 6 percent at the newsstand, but off 0.8 percent overall. The New Yorker fell 3.6 percent (down 2.4 total paid). Glamour was down 9.2 percent, but total paid was up 4.1 percent.
New York magazine was up 3.4 percent at the newsstand and up 0.9 percent in total paid circulation.