Magazine sales at U.S. newsstands are down

U.S. newsstands sold fewer magazines in the first half of 2006 compared with a year ago, as some markets were saturated with too many offerings while others had to compete with the Web.

Newsstand, or “single-copy,” sales of magazines fell more than 4% to about 48.7 million copies in the first half of 2006, according to preliminary figures provided by U.S. magazine publishers this week to the Audit Bureau of Circulations.

Magazine sales have fallen because many readers are spending more time on the Internet, and because of a thicket of similarly themed titles, said Samir Husni, chairman of the journalism department at the University of Mississippi.

John Harrington, a newsstand sales analyst and publisher of the New Single Copy newsletter, also blamed a softer retail market.

“There are fewer trips to the store, and magazines rely on impulse sales at retail,” he said.

Overall magazine circulation was 378.9 million copies for the six months ended June 30, 2006, up 2% from the year-earlier period, according to the audit bureau data.

The gain was helped by new magazines that are distributed free, such as magazines that are distributed in bulk or that are inserted in other publications.

Some hot-selling celebrity weeklies also saw more readers. US Weekly’s circulation jumped 7.2% to about 1.8 million copies, while People magazine saw circulation rise about 1.2% to 3.8 million copies.