Magazine Economics

Overall in the industry, ad sales have staggered since the recession of 2001. But 2005 represented at least a partial rebound, buoyed in large part by the rise of the celebrity genre. Two titles in particular grew dramatically, The Star and In Touch. In 2005, In Touch saw its pages rise 38% and its dollars increase 197%. At The Star, pages rose 30% and dollars 84%.21

And those two magazines have been joined by a third, the European import OK!, whose figures were not yet available at this writing. All those titles share a common approach to the celebrity world. Writing takes a back seat to photos — often “exclusive” photos — and reporting scoops on celebrities’ personal lives. They are also less expensive than the established celebrity titles, like People and Us, and are printed on lower-quality paper. Their layout is evocative of checkout-line tabloids, and in truth they have more in common with those tabs than titles on the magazine stand.

They are the titles experiencing the biggest growth, however. The more traditional celebrity and pop culture titles are suffering. People is relatively flat — no change in pages and a 3.9% climb in dollars — and Teen People is taking a hit — pages down almost 50% and dollars down 28%.22

As mentioned in the audience section, the lower prices and fresh approach of these new titles are scoring particularly well with younger readers. That seems to be particularly hurting Teen People, which has an average reader age of 28, according to MRI’s reader survey. That would put Teen People in direct competition with these new titles for young readers.

There is good and bad news here. If publishers were worried that young people were turning away from magazines, they have reason to feel upbeat. On the other hand, they seem to be gravitating toward the bottom of the market. People magazine may be a pop culture title, but it is not celebrity-driven in the same way these new titles are, and the magazine does actually deal with heavier news, though in a light way. People carries stories about celebrity dates, but Sen. Barack Obama has also appeared as a subject, as have tragedy and crime stories. The newer celebrity titles do not veer far, if at all, from the celebrity world — a world that seems to hold great appeal for readers.