MediaBuyerPlanner: Magazine wholesalers are cutting distribution significantly across all magazines in an effort to increase sell-through rates and improve profits.
Interlink cut 57 million copies, or 5.7 percent of the 1 billion copies it distributes yearly, while Anderson News Corp. cut 140 million copies last fall, or about 17.5 percent of its total distribution, writes MediaPost. The News Group, too, made cuts, in the hopes of increasing sell-through from 37 percent to more than 40 percent.
Wholesalers are targeting lower-priced magazines, particularly those with cover prices under $2.50, such as Meredith’s Family Circle, Hearst’s Quick & Simple, and all of Bauer Publishing’s titles. Wholesale pressure was a major reason Bauer nixed its new launch, Cocktail Weekly, according to sources. To avoid cuts, many magazine publishers are upping cover prices.
Such low-cost titles have grown in recent years, with titles under $2.00 reaching more than 19 percent of all magazines sold, up from 15 percent in 2005, according to Harrington Associates.
The ongoing draw cuts will hurt newsstand sales, says David Leckey, executive vp of consumer marketing for American Media and an Audit Bureau of Circulations board member. That issue, along with accelerating postal rate increases, are two that will come to a head for magazine publishers, making it necessary for them to reevaluate their rate bases next year, he predicts.
David Ball, vp of Meredith consumer marketing, however, said sales of Family Circle fell off only by a small amount following the cut.
Related stories:
- Bauer Cancels Launch of ‘Cocktail’
- New ‘Cocktail Weekly’ Courts Twenty-Something Women
- USPS Seeks Mailer Comments
- PRC Recommends 7.6% Rate Hike
