Mag Bag: Magazine Audiences Growing
by Erik Sass
Magazine Audiences Growing
While print advertising is still under pressure, the total audience for American magazines continues to grow, according to the latest data from media research firm GfK MRI -- and that includes print readership as well as digital. Overall, a group of 200 leading U.S. magazines tracked by GfK MRI saw their combined print audience increase 1.1% from 1.17 billion in spring 2013 to just under 1.19 billion in spring 2013. (These figures include some print readers who also read digital editions, and thus are not “print only.”)
When all readers of digital editions were included, these magazines saw total audience rise even more -- with a 1.7% increase from 1.19 billion in spring 2013 to just under 1.21 billion in spring 2014. Crunching the numbers, the number of “digital only” readers (referring to readers who only consumed digital editions of particular magazines, and not including visitors to magazine Web sites) jumped 37% from 16.9 million in spring 2013 to 23.2 million in spring 2014.
The list of magazines with growing print audiences includes All You, up 11.2% from 3.9 million to 4.3 million; The Atlantic, up 42.3% from 1.3 million to 1.8 million; Automobile, up 11.6% from 3.7 million to 4.1 million; Better Homes and Gardens, up 9.3% from 36.2 million to 39.6 million; Country Living, up 13.8% from 11.1 million to 12.6 million; Elle, up 10.5% from 5.2 million to 5.8 million; Esquire, up 29.5% from 2.7 million to 3.5 million; Fitness, up 21.6% from 7.5 million to 9.1 million; Forbes, up 20.5% from 5.1 million to 6.1 million; Harper’s Bazaar, up 25.2% from 3.1 million to 3.8 million; Health, up 11.4% from 7.6 million to 8.5 million; House Beautiful, up 13.5% from 5.6 million to 6.4 million; The New Yorker, up 18% from 3.6 million to 4.3 million; Real Simple, up 12.3% from 7.3 million to 8.3 million; Runner’s World, up 12.5% from 2.8 million to 3.1 million; Travel + Leisure, up 19.3% from 5.5 million to 6.6 million; Us Weekly, up 11.3% from 12.3 million to 13.7 million; and Vogue, up 12.4% from 11.3 million to 12.7 million.
Although the latest digital audience figures are nothing to sneeze at, and the digital audience is obviously growing fast, digital-only readership obviously remains a fairly small proportion of the total. Digital-only readers accounted for 1.9% of the combined print and digital audience in spring 2014, up from 1.4% in spring 2013.
Forbes Preps Launch of ForbesLife.com
Forbes Media is preparing to a launch a new luxury lifestyle Web site, ForbesLife.com, as an extension of ForbesLife, its print luxury lifestyle magazine. The Web site, set to officially launch on September 2, will feature a highly visual navigation system optimized for mobile devices, tablets, as well as desktop and laptops. It will offer daily coverage of men’s and women’s fashion, watches and jewelry, automobiles and boats, real estate and luxury homes, fine dining and drinks, and arts and culture, among other things, drawing on 150 contributors worldwide. The Web site will include opportunities for marketers to use Forbes’ BrandVoice branded content program. Forbes is also planning to launch a ForbesLife app in conjunction with the September issue of the magazine.
MyRecipes Launches Channel on Roku
Time Inc.’s MyRecipes.com is launching a new channel on Roku’s streaming video platform, featuring over 250 videos across a dozen food-related categories, the publisher announced this week. The MyRecipes channel is free and accessing on current-generation Roku streaming devices including Roku’s Streaming Stick in the U.S., Canada, and British isles. Time Inc. Senior Vice President of Video JR McCabe stated: “We want to connect with consumers wherever they are consuming video content, and Roku is a leader in streaming entertainment. MyRecipes is the perfect brand to launch this new partnership with its wealth of content and passionate audience base.””
Condé Nast Traveler Launches Gold List App
Condé Nast Traveler has released a new app, the Gold List, which collects all the luxury travel-related services and products featured in the magazine, including hotels, resorts and cruise lines for users to browse through. The app was created in collaboration with MAZ and includes Stream, a social feature that creates a live, crowdsourced feed of Condé Nast Traveler Gold List content as curated by the community of app users. Stream allows readers to participate in a localized social network inside the app by “cutting out” anything they see on their screens with their fingers to save or share via social media, email or SMS.
Source
"Mag Bag: Magazine Audiences Growing." MediaPost, 2014