Endoftheday – periodical sales – Brief Article – Statistical Data Included
Lori Lefevre
Newsstand secrets revealed!
ELLE
Shoppers got more bang for the buck with Elle’s traditionally monstrous September fall fashion issue, featuring Christy Turlington, than with the somewhat slim February issue, graced by Cindy Crawford. But there’s more to a hot seller than just page count, says editor-in-chief Roberta Myers: “There’s a signature look for Elle covers that makes readers stop and take a second look.” One of last year’s bigger hits was the Britney Spears cover, which showed the mass-appeal teen star in haute couture.
Winners
352,000
Sinners
252,000
ESPN
ESPN is known as the renegade of its category, and while some unconventional covers don’t sell, the magazine won’t be abandoning its trademark. (Especially since single copies average only 5 percent of total circ.) The poor-selling Super Bowl special featured models as funky, feisty cheerleaders. “You always do best to put an athlete in a uniform [on the cover],” admits senior vp/general manager Michael Rooney. Readers responded well to the College Football Preview, featuring Michael Vick, the Virginia Tech QB.
Winners
94,798
Sinners
41,065
FHM
Young FHM is learning that newsstand seduction involves more than just ample cleavage. Editor-in-chief Ed Needham credits the sales of Alicia Silverstone’s cover to the poly-bagged supplement offering up “100 Sexiest Women in the World.” “Always helps to have a big old promotion,” he says. Shania Twain looked naughty enough on the May/June cover, but editors misjudged the staying power of “country’s sexy queen,” who’d been out of the spotlight for half a year. Still, 280,00 is a pretty sexy number for a newsstand newcomer.
Winners
534,000
Sinners
280,000
NATIONAL
GEOGRAPHIC TRAVELER
Travel magazines don’t do much single-copy business, but NGT editor-in-chief Keith Bellows says sales spike when covers feature perennially popular destinations…like Rome. Newsstand buyers prefer to read about the attainable rather than the more offbeat–but too attainable can have the least appeal of all. While most U.S. travelers stay within the borders, domestic covers rarely move off the rack, Bellows says, explaining the poor-selling April cover on the San Juan islands.
Winners
42,967
Sinners
24,014
TIME
Time’s Person of the Year issue, though it often generates buzz, does not always generate sales. This year, timing was on its side: It hit stands only days after Al Gore had conceded. “If the election had been definitive on Election Night, I don’t think this would have been the winner,” says managing editor Jim Kelly. While the “New Philanthropists” package was “worth exploring,” Kelly says, he was not surprised by its low numbers, because it lacked a news hook and a strong cover image.
Winners
247,686
Sinners
100,571
YAHOO!
INTERNET LIFE
Did consumers fall asleep at the thought of Al Gore going on about technology issues? “People were just suffering from election fatigue,” says YIL editor-in-chief Barry Golson, accounting for the November issue’s poor showing, which surprised him. “It was a beautiful cover,” he says, with model Molly Sims promoting an online-fashion package. He was not the least bit surprised, however, by the success of the “Top of the Net” issue, a solid franchise for the last five years.
Winners
102,000
Sinners
55,000
COPYRIGHT 2001 BPI Communications, Inc.
COPYRIGHT 2001 Gale Group
