Women\'s Magazines Lead Overall Decline In Newsstand Sales

By CHRISTINE HAUGHNEY

Consumers are shying away from impulse buys and the magazine industry is feeling the pinch.

According to data released by the Audit Bureau of Circulations this morning, overall paid and verified circulation of magazines declined slightly by 0.1 percent in the first half of 2012. But newsstand sales - often seen as the best barometer of a magazine's appeal - were down nearly 10 percent.

Women's magazine and high brow titles like Vanity Fair (down 18.8 percent) and The New Yorker (down 17.4 percent) even suffered even steeper declines. Some of the worst declines in newsstand sales happened to celebrity magazines. People (down 18.6 percent), Us Weekly (down 11.4 percent), In Touch Weekly (down 13.3 percent) and Star Magazine (down 14.2 percent) all suffered at the newsstand, even with celebrity news like the breakup of Katy Perry and Russell Brand and the death of Whitney Houston.

John Harrington, an industry c onsultant, said that while this magazine category has been struggling for several years, that these latest numbers are “the worst I've ever seen”. He said that these magazines are suffering because consumers can get this information online.

“It's more the social media and the immediacy and availability of information and coverage of celebrities in general,” he said. “By the time the magazine comes out it's old news. We're onto the next scandal.”

He blames the double-digit decline in newsstand sales for magazines like Vogue (down 16.5 percent) and Cosmopolitan (down 15.5 percent) on how consumers now shop at supermarkets. Mr. Harrington said that since the recession began, the percentage of shoppers using a list when they head into a supermarket doubled to more than 70 percent. That makes the cost of a copy of Vogue or Cosmopolitan too pricey by the time shoppers reach the checkout line.

“With the onset of the grea t recession, shoppers became very careful. They stick to their shopping list and magazines are by tradition what you call an impulse buy,” said Mr. Harrington. “As basic supermarket products have started to recover, the magazines haven't.”

The categories that seems to have improved are home and food. Women's Day and Family Circle both had single digit jumps in newsstand sales. Even more expensive titles like Architectural Digest experienced a 8.6 percent jump.

For the first time, the Audit Bureau of Circulations broke out digital sales for magazines. Though the sales make up a modest percentage of the industry, these sales are growing. In the first half of 2011, 232 magazines reported 2 million digital copies which made up one percent of all copies. In the first half of 2012, 258 magazines reported selling more than 5.4 million digital editions.

But Mr. Harrington said these figures are not enough to save the magazine industry.

“The numbers ar e still minute compared to even newsstands and subscriptions and there's a whole lot of questions as to how that's going to play out,” said Mr. Harrington. “There's definitely something seriously wrong. If you talk to magazine wholesalers and distributors, it's a very concerned group because their sales have been sinking consistently.”