Magazine Media 360° stats show big gain in audiences, reveal top magazine brands in latest digital publishing news
The Association of Magazine Media (MPA) released its most current industry numbers, building onto its monthly report with an accumulated six months’ worth of audience data from August of 2014 to January of 2015. The digital publishing news is good for magazines and multiplatform publishers.
The Audience Report charted a 10.1% year-over-year increase in site visits during August of 2014 to January of 2015 from the same time period in 2013-2014, while tabbing average monthly traffic for digital magazines at 1.6 billion (as opposed to 1.4 billion during those same months in 2013-2014).
The MPA attributed the rise in audience development to significant – and consistent – growth in mobile and video, up 83% and 58%, respectively, over August of 2013 to January of 2014. Print+digital editions and desktop/laptop showed an aggregate 1% increase.
“When we introduced Magazine Media 360° six months ago and became the first industry to establish a metric that considered its entire audience, we thought that this more accurate measurement would be a game changer,” said MPA President and CEO Mary G. Berner in a statement.
“But, what we didn’t anticipate was that the figures would be so strong and that advertisers would embrace them so rapidly. We are delighted that Magazine Media 360° is so quickly becoming the industry standard and that the news is consistently good, defying all those cynics’ and skeptics’ predictions for doom and gloom.”
Magazine Media 360° measures multiplatform publishing data from upward of 145 magazine brands from 30 companies, representing 95% of total readers.
The MPA cites sources including GfK MRI’s Survey of the American Consumer and TeenMark; comScore’s Media Metrix, Mobile Media Metrix, and Video Metrix; and Nielsen’s NetView, Mobile NetView, and VideoCensus.
Here’s how Magazine Media 360° defines the measurements:
Print+Digital: The unduplicated estimate of average issue readers, in thousands
Desktop/Laptop: The number of uniques, in thousands, that have visited a website on a desktop or laptop at least once in the specified reporting period
Mobile: The number of uniques, in thousands, that have visited a website via mobile device – including iOS and Android – at least one time during the reporting period
Video: Unique viewers, in thousands, who watched a video at least once during the reporting period via a player owned/operated by the publisher – regardless of where that video was viewed – and/or, if reported, through a separate, clearly branded channel.
Viewers from each category are added up to arrive at overall audience.
Top 10 Magazine Brands, August 2014-January 2015
Overall (Average Monthly Audience)
1. People (76,595)
2. Better Homes and Gardens (50,926)
3. AllRecipes (45,930)
4. AARP The Magazine (43,240)
5. Forbes (41,695)
6. Time (41,288)
7. National Geographic (39,669)
8. AARP Bulletin (37,674)
9. Sports Illustrated (35,467)
10. Cosmopolitan (30,034)
Average Monthly Growth (Y-o-Y)
1. New York Magazine (48%)
2. Bon Appétit/Epicurious (47%)
3. Harper’s Bazaar (46%)
4. HGTV Magazine (41%)
5. Wired (40%)
6. Fit Pregnancy (38%)
7. Playboy (37%)
8. Taste of Home (37%)
9. OK! Magazine (35%)
10. All You (35%)
What are your thoughts on this digital publishing news? Do your audience numbers reflect the positive trends that the Magazine Media 360° metrics are tracking? Let us know in the comments, and check out our own Digital Magazine Market Study!
To read more about the MPA’s Magazine Media 360° findings and to view the latest report, visit the MPA.
