Print continues to struggle, and the latest numbers from MagNet, which tracks single-copy sales of magazines, shows the struggle isn't abating.
Single-copy magazine sales fell a bit more than ten percent in the first quarter of this year, as compared to first quarter sales in 2015. In actual numbers, 88.1 million single copies were sold, down from 98 million a year ago.
The categories that had the biggest declines were business and finance magazines, followed by health and fitness, and home and garden, and celebrity and gossip mags. MagNet said the declines are smaller, percentage-wise, than previous quarters... but they are still trending downward.
Readership for many of these magazines is holding steady, thanks to online viewing. For advertisers, online viewing doesn't offset losses in print sales since online readers often click past the ads.
It's a continuing challenge, for both publishers and advertisers.