• by Erik Sass  @eriksass1, February 13, 2007

Some consumer magazine categories are booming, according to the most recent FAS-FAX circulation report from the Audit Bureau of Circulations, covering the second half of 2006. Others hit a sour note. Celebrity magazines were the big winners, with impressive growth in newsstand sales and subscriptions. Business titles mostly saw stagnation or decline, with a few notable exceptions.

Growth in the celeb category was led by relatively new weeklies, all launched in the last five years. These include Bauer Publishing's InTouch Weekly, launched in 2002; Us Weekly, relaunched as a glossy by Wenner in 2002; and Star Magazine, relaunched as a glossy by American Media, Inc. in 2004. Although the magazines are nearly indistinguishable at the newsstand, they still succeed individually.

In the second half of 2006, InTouch Weekly's newsstand sales grew 7.7% compared to the second half of 2005, ending at 1,227,350. Subscriptions rose 7.4% to 41,229. Us Weekly's newsstand sales rose a more modest 2.4% to 978,285, but the title got a boost from a 9.4% increase in subs, to end at 773,424. By contrast, Star Magazine actually saw a decline in newsstand sales, which fell 13.9% to 743,439--an anomaly for the category. But Star more than made up for this with a 40.9% jump in subs, ending at 798,779.

Incumbent celebrity titles didn't grow quite as quickly, with People seeing subs rise 1.3% to 2,189,612, and newsstand sales edging up 2.1% to 1,561,286, for overall circulation growth of 1.6%. Likewise, Entertainment Weekly's 1.6% growth in subs was basically cancelled out by a 17.3% decline in its smaller newsstand figure--leaving the title flat with a 0.9% overall increase.

Some business titles turned in respectable performances, led by The Economist, where subscriptions grew 12.4% to 577,118 and newsstand sales rose 11.2% to 62,088. Other mags enjoyed more modest growth.

Sister publications Fast Company and Inc. both saw big increases at the newsstand, alongside basically flat subscription numbers, driving small increases in overall circulation. Barron's subs rose 2.8% to 253,259--offsetting a 6.2% decline in newsstand sales to end basically flat, with circulation growth of 1.2%.

But that's where the good news ends for business mags.

And Entrepreneur and Forbes are hanging tough, with almost no change in overall circulation. Fortune is down 16.5% at the newsstand--driving a 1.3% drop in total circulation, which ended at 869,665. BusinessWeek's subs fell 7.7% to 887,123, for a total circulation decline of 6.8%. Money is down 3.1% in subs to 1,808,723, and 6.0% at the newsstand to end at 119,818. Finally, Business 2.0's subs fell 2.9% to 584,472, as newsstand slipped 2.7% to 30,605.