Here are the macro level findings. In future installments, we will get into category analysis, drill down on specific magazine success stories, and talk about the biggest decliners too. 

Look for future installments to come soon.

• Total Units sold in 2012:  83,488,654
• Total Units sold in 2011:  90,006,896
• %+/- 2012 vs. 2011:  -7.2%

So if your magazine did better than a decline of 7.2% you are a winner relative to the overall index.

• Total Retail $ Sales in 2012:  $458,793,287
• Total Retail $ Sales in 2011:  $491,535,040
• %+/- 2012 vs. 2011:  -6.7%

Higher priced SIPs and the usual upward movement on cover prices helped a bit.

• Total Units sold of Canadian magazines in 2012:  13,546,978
• Total Units sold of Canadian magazines in 2011:  14,210,138
• %+/- 2012 vs. 2011:  -4.7%

Good to see that Canadian magazines are doing considerably better than the overall index.

• Total Units sold of USA & Other magazines in 2012:  69,941,676
• Total Units sold of USA & Other magazines in 2011:  75,796,758
• %+/- 2012 vs. 2011:  -7.7%

Here are some other observations… 

• Overall Newsstand Sell-through in 2012:  31.3%
• Overall Newsstand Sell-through in 2011:  31.6%

 Sell-through remains stable.

• Canadian magazines sold as a percentage of overall total newsstand sales in 2012:  16.2%
• Canadian magazines sold as a percentage of overall total newsstand sales in 2011:  15.8%

A good story is that the percentage of Canadian magazines sold on newsstands has been trending up every year.

In 2008 Canadian magazines represented 13.5% of the total units of English language magazines sold on newsstands through Canadian wholesalers. So in the last five years we have seen market share increase from 13.5% to 16.2% for Canadian magazines.

 Here’s another interesting statistic…

• Total number of issues distributed in 2012:  22,050
• Total number of issues distributed in 2011:  22,285
• %+/- 2012 vs. 2011:  -1.0%

The number of issues distributed has stabilized since the biggest drop in 2009. That year only 21,839 total issues were distributed compared to 23,582 in 2008. This was a drop of 7.4% which was a significant reduction in issues distributed for 2009 compared to 2008.

Again, all of the comparison and data provided are for English language magazines only, and that are distributed through Canadian mass market wholesalers.