Canadian Magazine Industry News
26 June 2009,     NATIONAL
Shocker! Celeb mags dominate Canadian newsstand sales
Seven of the top 10 best-selling magazines on Canadian newsstands are about celebrities, according to data from the third annual Canadian Newsstand Box Score. The list, produced by Coast to Coast Newsstand Services Partnership, Canada's largest magazine distributor, ranks the top 2000 magazines sold in this country by revenues earned from the racks, and also tracks unit sales and year-over-year gains/losses.

Some observations:
  • People magazine earned more on Canadian newsstands in 2008 than all but four Canadian magazines earned in total revenue.
    Time Inc.'s People remains Canada's undisputed newsstand champion, with 2008 sales totalling $31.2 million, a 7.8% increase over the previous year. Second-place Star was well behind, with retail sales of just $19.6 million in 2008.
  • Rogers-owned Hello!, the top-ranked Canadian magazine on the list, continued its ascent up the charts, climbing from 12th to 9th with newsstand earnings of $10.3 million in 2008, a gain of 58.7%—or $3.8 million—over the previous year.
  • Hello was also the top gainer in terms of actual revenue and unit sales, while out of the top 100 titles, The Hockey News SIP saw the biggest revenue growth (73.7%).
  • Biggest loser in terms of actual revenue was Us Weekly (-$2.2 million).
  • In Touch shed 1.2 million in unit sales but revenues actually grew by $2.5 million, due to a higher average cover price ($2.99 vs. $2.19)
  • Out of the top 100 magazines, 15 are based in Canada (including Canuck editions of Time, Old Farmer's Almanac, and Hustler Canada).
  • Out of the top 100 magazines, 12 are classified in the "sophisticates" (i.e. porn) category (including Hustler Canada).
  • Some of the catgory classifications are weird, i.e. Vanity Fair as "Men's Lifestyle," The Atlantic Monthly as "Business/Finance," and the bundling of The New Yorker, National Enquirer and Soap Opera Digest under the "Weekly" banner.
  • B.C.-based Western Mariner rounded out the list at number 2000, with sales just over $10,000 in 2008.
(N.B. Coast to Coast uses a different method for tracking newsstand sales than Masthead does for its annual ranking of Canada's Top 50 magazines. As such, the numbers in the two lists may not match up.)
— M.U.
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Jaded says:
Wow, Torstar really seems to be on a mission to bankrupt one magazine after another....
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Lorene Shyba says:
Full of terrific information, Thanks!...
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