• WWD, Thursday, September 7, 2006 11:47 AM

The fight between celebrity weeklies just became a three-for-all, as the battle of People and Us Weekly has just been joined by In Touch. The Bauer weekly is now the second-largest title in the category, and is coming after top dog People in a big way--at least at the newsstand. The Aug. 21 issue brought In Touch within a few thousand copies--and it might even have overtaken--People as the top newsstand seller, depending on the data. According to some unnamed folks familiar with scan data, People's Aug. 21 issue with the cover story "Before They Were Stars" sold 1.24 million copies--a hair under the 1.26 million copies In Touch moved with its piece on Jessica Simpson. The same sources also insist that People's Sept. 4 JonBenet Ramsey issue came in below In Touch's take on Nicole Richie's weight loss. In Touch declines to confirm the numbers, but Publisher Bob Davidowitz says it had a strong August. Its goal, he adds, is to be the leader in single-copy sales, "and we are on the way to doing just that."

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