This is part two of three in a series of posts about the state of tablets, digital magazines, and digital publishing trends. You can read Part 1 on the TFP blog.

As we head into the second half of 2013, digital magazines continue to be an area of focus for many publishers, but how have their efforts to promote digital products affected revenues and user adoption?

We looked at the most recent research on digital readership, the top digital magazine performers, and current trends in order to give you an easily digestible summary of the state of the digital magazine market.

Readership (Print and Digital)
  • According to GfK MRI’s Survey of the American Consumer, the U.S. magazine adult audience (for print and digital editions combined) has seen a nearly 3% increase in readership, to 1.2 billion, in the past 12 months.
  • GfK MRI also found that food magazines have been one of the fastest-growing categories, but “thought leader” titles like The Atlantic and The Economist have also had increases in readership.
  • The survey found that fashion magazines experienced a lack of increase or considerable drops in readership. Men’s interest titles, including American Hunter and Golf Digest, where among those that saw the biggest declines.
Readership (Digital Only)
  • Digital readership accounts for 1.4% of all magazine readership, but its market share is growing rapidly.
  • According to the GfK MRI Survey of the American Consumer, the digital audience grew from 9.2 million in the spring of 2012 to 16.9 million in the spring of 2013, an increase of 83%.
  • ESPN The Magazine‘s digital readership is the largest, according to GfK MRI, with an audience of nearly 1.1 million. TV Guide (705,000 readers), Food Network Magazine (658,000), and Sports Illustrated (544,000) are also at the top of the leader board.
  • According to the Alliance for Audited Media, almost 65% of U.S. magazines now have a digital replica edition.
  • Some magazines’ digital growth can be at least partly attributed to the fact that their digital editions are offered to readers for free.
  • 289 U.S. magazines reported that they’d sold 7.9 million digital replica editions in the last six months of 2012. That’s 2.4% of total circulation—up from less than 1% in the second half of 2011, and up from 1.7% in the first six months of this year.
Top 25 U.S. Consumer Magazines by Digital Replica Circulation*

Plus circulation percentage growth (or decrease) over the first six months of the year

  1. Game Informer (GameStop), digital circulation: 2,305,816 (+89% over first half of 2012)
  2. Maxim (Alpha Media Group): 259,529 (-8.9%)
  3. Cosmopolitan (Hearst): 254,751 (+37.2%)
  4. National Geographic (National Geographic): 160,077 (+18.9%)
  5. Poder Hispanic (Televisa): 149,838 (-12.3%)
  6. Reader’s Digest (Reader’s Digest): 147,149 (+248.8%)
  7. Taste of Home (Reader’s Digest): 103,961 (+243.9%)
  8. Popular Science (Bonnier): 98,389 (+5.8%)
  9. ESPN The Magazine (ESPN): 92,197 (+20.4%)
  10. OK! (American Media): 88,347 (+86.7%)
  11. Parenting (Bonnier): 87,253 (+16.7%)
  12. Men’s Health (Rodale): 85,842 (+44.2%)
  13. O, the Oprah Magazine (Hearst): 84,632 (+4.2%)
  14. Wired (Condé Nast): 84,118 (+22.3%)
  15. Us Weekly (Wenner Media): 81,611 (+40.8%)
  16. Nylon (Jaclynn B. Jarrett): 77,469 (+2.5%)
  17. GQ (Condé Nast): 74,806  (+24.6%)
  18. Food Network Magazine (Hearst): 67,727 (+65.1%)
  19. Women’s Health (Rodale): 66,555 (+29.5%)
  20. Star (American Media): 59,903 (+297%)
  21. New Yorker (Condé Nast): 59,471 (+66.7%)
  22. Esquire (Condé Nast Hearst): 57,795 (+41.7%)
  23. Martha Stewart Living (Time Inc. Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia): 56,068 (+28.7%)
  24. Glamour (Condé Nast): 53,794 (+56.8%)
  25. Vanity Fair (Condé Nast): 53,735 (+47.6%)

* As of Dec. 31, 2012, according to the Alliance for Audited Media’s Snapshot report.

Trends 
  • In a survey released by digital publishing consultancy Mequoda Group, a significant portion of respondents said they engage with digital magazines on a monthly basis.
  • 26% of respondents to the Mequoda survey said they prefer the tablet version of the magazine over the print version.
  • 13% of respondents said they have purchased a digital magazine or subscription in the past 30 days (7% bought the single copy, and 6% bought a subscription).
  • 57% of respondents said the tablet is their favorite place to consume content.

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Posted by: Gina Barrett

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