Why People’s Barack Obama Cover Didn’t Outsell its Average - Plus, Don’t Compare this to US Weekly!
Today, the New York Post confirms that People Magazine’s issue featuring the Obamas sold below the weekly magazine’s average sales.
People normally sells 1.45 million copies a week on newsstands. The latest estimates put the sales figure for last week’s Obama cover at 1.4 million.
Us Weekly’s June cover with Obama achieved a sales jump of over 10 percent above average, selling close to one million. Its average weekly sales figure for most of the year is below 900,000.
Why did this happen?
It’s pretty simple.
Us Weekly had a much stronger line “Why Barack Loves Her.” This hit newsstands EXACTLY at the time that Michelle Obama was under great fire in the media. This line introduced a bit of drama.
On the other hand, “The Obamas at Home” offers the reader NO DRAMA. It’s flat.
However, comparing People to Us Magazine on this issue is a bit of spin going out of control.
Yes, People sold less than Us Weekly, but that does not mean it’s a disaster for People.
To me, this comparison is more of a problem for the Us Weekly team. It represents a big problem for the magazine in the long-term. If Barack Obama is one of its biggest sellers, what does it do on other weeks?
