• by Erik Sass  @eriksass1, February 8, 2011

Ad pages may have finally stabilized, but the news on consumer magazines' print circulation isn't getting any better. The second half of 2010 brought another round of declines in paid subscriptions and newsstand sales, according to the latest figures from the Audit Bureau of Circulations.

Between the second half of 2009 and the second half of 2010, the total paid subscription base of 572 titles tracked by ABC slipped 1.1%, from just over 266.4 million to just under 263.7 million. More ominously, single-copy sales (for those titles that provided them to ABC) slid 6.9% from almost 36.4 million to just below 33 million. Focusing in on the 125 largest titles, total paid subscriptions slipped 1.4% from 144.7 million to 142.8 million, while newsstand sales tumbled 7.2% from 25 million to 23.2 million.

In the women's lifestyle category, big drops were seen in newsstand sales at Self, down 16.5% to 203,999; Family Circle, down 15.6% to 603,504; Woman's Day, down 15.5% to 396,299; Ladies' Home Journal, down 13.4% to 168,232; More, down 13% to 179,400; Seventeen, down 12.4% to 343,742; and Cosmopolitan, down 10.6% to 1,566,658. In fashion and beauty, newsstand sales dropped at Lucky, down 22.4% to 168,548; Allure, down 18.8% to 151,062; Teen Vogue, down 15.5% to 150,356; and Glamour, down 11.3% to 521,213.

Some of the biggest hits came in the celebrity category, with US Weekly down 15.8% to 683,485; OK! Weekly down 14.9% to 344,176; Star Magazine down 13.7% to 496,395; and Life & Style Weekly down 11% to 411,012. Among food titles, Bon Appetit was down 27.7% to 82,024 and Every Day with Rachael Ray was down 23.2% to 282,264.

In men's interest categories -- including lifestyle and health and fitness -- newsstand sales were down 32.4% at Playboy, to 105,046; Maxim was down 19.2% to 237,583; Sports Illustrated was down 18.4% to 49,264; Muscle & Fitness was down 16.1% to 96,214; Details was down 13.5% to 49,459; and Men's Health was down 8.9% to 399,283.

Newsweeklies took it especially hard, with Newsweek's newsstand sales tumbling 35.4% to 40,225, while Time slipped 11.5% to 79,274.