U.S. magazine newsstand sales dropped almost 10% during the first six months of 2012, with all five top-selling single-copy publications seeing stark declines in sales, according to The Wall Street Journal.
People and Cosmopolitan suffered major setbacks, watching their newsstand sales numbers drop 18.6% and 15.5%, respectively, during the first half of the year.
Newsstand magazine sales are an important indicator of demand because single-copy sales generate more revenue than print or digital subscriptions, which often are sold at a discount, according to the Associated Press.
Despite having interesting content for readers perusal, it seems to not be enough these days when trying to sell issues.
When looking at total paid circulation, the decline in sales was more modest, falling just 0.1% from the same period last year.
The report underscores the difficulty of generating consistent revenue in a media industry where print publications are folding and digital properties are finding difficulty monetizing their content. Digital ad revenue growth has stalled for many media properties as the average cost-per-click continues to plummet.
Reevaluating customer's wants and needs for content can possibly be a good way to increase readership. As technology continues to reign king in the media field, print publishers will have to figure out some type way to intice readers to purchase their product.
One thought is to include exclusive tangible goods that can only be acquired from purchasing copies of their magazines. This method may prove profitable for publishers on the theory that customers like to associate themselves with products, as seen by the iPhone community.
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