• by Erik Sass , August 9, 2010

U.S. consumer magazines saw total newsstand sales drop between the first half of 2009 and the first half of 2010, according to the latest circulation report from the Audit Bureau of Circulations. With 393 magazines reporting figures for both periods, total average newsstand sales fell 5.6% from about 34.53 million to 32.59 million. Some 119 (or 30.2%) experienced single-digit percentage drops in newsstand sales, while 88 (or 22%) fell 10%-19.9%, and 82 (or 20.9%) experienced declines of 20% or more.

The losses were spread evenly across various categories, including newsweeklies, women's lifestyle, fashion and beauty, celebrity, men's lifestyle, business, automotive, and enthusiast titles. Some of the biggest losses, in percentage terms, came at newsweeklies: Time saw single-copy sales fall 28.1% from 100,382 to 72,164, while Newsweek (recently acquired by Sidney Harman from the Washington Post Co.) tumbled 30.2% from 64,866 to 45,298; Newsweek also saw total subs decline 39.4% from 2,581,747 to 1,565,344 over this period.

In fashion and beauty, newsstand sales sank at Brides, down 43% from 184,334 to 105,002; Teen Vogue, down 29.7% from 175,600 to 123,404; Essence, down 22.1% from 250,308 to 195,057; Allure, down 19% from 190,333 to 154,146; Lucky, down 16.8% from 198,583 to 165,179; and Vogue, down 14.7% from 374,750 to 319,844. In the health and fitness category, single-copy sales fell at Prevention, down 17.5% from 300,403 to 247,779; Fitness, down 15% from 214,791 to 182,500; and Self, down 12.2% from 296,083 to 260,010.

In women's lifestyle magazines, newsstand sales declined at Redbook, down 28.8% from 154,609 to 110,138, and O, the Oprah Magazine, down 15.8% from 693,054 to 583,457. Good Housekeeping was down 17.7% from 468,661 to 385,669.

Among shelter titles, Country Living fell 10.7% from 134,884 to 120,412. Losses also hit some food titles, with single-copy sales at Every Day with Rachael Ray falling 23.4% from 375,773 to 287,812.

Among celebrity titles, Star fell 11.7% from 601,115 to 530,615; Life & Style Weekly was down 10.1% from 478,788 to 430,625; and OK! fell 9.6% from 398,360 to 360,180.

In men's lifestyle magazines, newsstand sales fell 16.6% at Maxim, from 350,242 to 291,983, while GQ was down 12.4% from 227,409 to 199,190. Among music mags, Rolling Stone was down 26.9% from 109,421 to 79,940. Turning to enthusiast titles, Golf Magazine fell 20.2% from 69,518 to 55,468. And in the automotive category, Motor Trend was down 26% from 108,815 to 80,497, while Automobile fell 23.2% from 44,339 to 34,064.

Among general interest titles, TV Guide fell 25.6% from 136,592 to 101,663, while Reader's Digest slipped 11.2% from 270,045 to 239,804.

Fewer magazines enjoyed increases at the newsstand. Single-copy sales increased 18% at Body + Soul, from 71,637 to 84,511; 10% at Harper's Bazaar, from 145,445 to 160,062; 34.6% at House Beautiful, from 80,954 to 108,932; 24.7% at Men's Journal, from 64,965 to 80,994; 16.3% at More, from 156,658 to 182,200; 14.5% at Wired, from 82,027 to 93,908; and 10.3% at Women's Health, from 333,463 to 367,725.