MarketingProfs

MediaBuyerPlanner: Web competition – apparent now for both readers and advertising – and a continued growth in the cacaphony of magazine titles took their toll in 2006, with the first half of the year showing almost 50 million fewer magazines sold from newsstands. Time showed an enormous shortfall of 24 percent. Time said it would shift publication days to Friday in hopes of mitigating the decline by appealing to weekend readers, according to Reuters.
The decline of 48.7 million magazine copies – or about 4 percent of the total newsstand sales – comes at a time of increased circulation scrutiny by advertisers and auditors. The past two years have seen several high-profile print scandals and circulation hubbubs involving exaggerated claims of paid circulation.
Magazine circulation actually increased by about 2 percent in the same time period, attributable to an increase in free circulars and inserts. Paid subscriptions fell too, also by 4 percent.