Celebrity Weekly Circulation Wars!
Keith Kelly’s Report on 2nd Half Numbers in Today’s New York Post
It’s a decidedly mixed bag for the weekly celebrity magazines that are getting ready to report their second-half 2007. Here is an excerpt from the article on the weeklies:
Janice Min, editor-in-chief of Us Weekly, will be smiling, as will Sarah Ivens, the editor-in-chief of OK!
However, Larry Hackett, the managing editor of People, may be wearing his smile upside down - at least until the more encouraging 2008 numbers are factored into his mix - six months from now.
The biggest loser on the newsstand looks to be Life & Style, which is expected to report a 10 percent tumble. But there is no editor under the gun, since it lost its editor-in-chief, Mark Pasetsky, and is being run by the In Touch Editor-in-Chief Richard Spencer.
Both magazines put in $1 price hikes to $2.99, but it appears that the big sister title In Touch will come in either flat or slightly down.
When the Audit Bureau of Circulations releases its FAS-FAX numbers next week, Us Weekly’s newsstand numbers are expected to be up 2.7 percent to 1,005,081, with total paid circulation up 10 percent to 1,928,852.
Us Weekly waited several weeks before following the 50-cent price hike that People initiated on Sept. 1, moving from $3.49 to $3.99 to match People.
There are rumblings that Star may soon join them at the higher-priced end of the scale.
OK! has lost more than $85 million on its American edition since launching 21/2 years ago, but it is apparently ready to report another positive circulation story, with single-copy sales jumping to 550,100 from 513,473, when the magazine still cost $1.99.
Total circ is now 935,378, up 24 percent from 757,538 in 2006.
Reports are circulating that OK! is ready to hike its price again from its current $2.99 to $3.49 in March. The company isn’t confirming the move.
People, meanwhile, is expected to show a little softness, with total circulation falling 3.5 percent to 3.7 million and newsstand sales sinking 6 percent to 1.42 million.
The title is still the biggest in the field, but on a few scattered occasions, some of its rivals have outsold it on newsstands.
Time Inc. brass is said to be a little worried by the decline and is looking to the mag a bit more “fizz.”
People’s recent coup of being the only magazine to have the Heath Ledger story on its cover won’t show up until the 2008 first-half numbers are released. The magazine was said to have sold 1.7 million copies on newsstands that week.
Star magazine, which hiked its cover price to $3.49 when People and Us Weekly moved to $3.99, is expected to be off between 3 percent and 4 percent on newsstands to 713,000.
Overall circulation will be off about 10 percent to 1,366,000 from 1,542,000.
That total number, while huge, is not a shock, since the magazine did slash the amount of circulation that it promises to advertisers.
For Keith Kelly’s complete column, click here.
