Despite an almost 6 percent decline in sales, Cosmopolitan closed out the second quarter of 2006 as the biggest newsstand seller moving just over 1.9 million copies issue, down from almost 2.1 million copies in the second half of 2005, according to the latest FAS-FAX analysis released Monday by the Audit Bureau of Circulations.
Celebrity weekly, People came in second with almost 1.6 million copies sold at the newsstand per issue, up 2.08 percent from a little over 1.5 million copies in the same period a year earlier. Women’s World was the top seller in the women’s magazine category with 1.4 million copies per issue, down 2.8 percent from almost 1.45 a year earlier. And Woman’s Day saw an almost 20 percent decline in single copy sales – the largest of the period – selling 685,250 copies, down from 856,125 in the second half of 2005.
The biggest gainer of period was low-cost Life & Style Weekly, which saw its single copy sales climb 25.25 percent to 744,453, up from 594,358 in 2005. Fellow $1.99 magazine, In Touch Weekly continued to make gains at the newsstand to claim the number 5 spot on the list top newsstand sellers moving an average of 1.2 million an issue, up 7.7 percent from 1.14 million in the second half of 2005. US Weekly came in sixth place with 978,285 copies, up from 954,892 in the second half of 2005.
The big gainers for the period surprisingly included Teen People, which folded last year and became on online product. The teen magazine saw its single copy sales increase 16.28 percent to 454,525. Weight Watchers also had big gains, up 15.18 percent to take the number 25 slot with 411,591 copies. And J-14 saw its single copy sales increase 10.35 percent to 416,559.
American Media flagships, the National Enquirer and Star Magazine, both racked up losses in single copy sales with Star suffering a 13.9 percent decline to 743,439. The Enquirer did better declining just 0.4 percent to 812,686.
Vogue, Glamour, Maxim and O, The Oprah Magazine alsosuffered drops in single copy sales, with Maxim down 12.24 percent, O declining almost 10 percent, Glamour down 7 percent, Vogue down almost 6 percent.
