There's some good news and some bad news regarding print media.
Let's get the bad news out of the way. Magazines continue to slide, with sales down more than 14%. Total magazine sales dropped by 6.2 % so far this year, compared to the same period a year ago. It's even worse for single-unit sales at newsstands, with a 10.8% drop this year.
Some of the harder-hit categories include celebrity and women's titles. Food & wine, recreation and science titles moved up slightly.
In the "good news" category, more people are reading newspapers, although not in the more profitable print editions. Newspapers last year were read by 179 million people, an increasing number of them accessing papers online.
It's not all good news for newspaper publishers, however. They continue to struggle as revenue from advertising and circulation dropped by nearly 4%. Part of the decline came from lower digital ad revenues, which were down by 2% last year, according to Pew Research.
Recognizing the changes and challenges, the Newspaper Association of America has changed its name to News Media Alliance. The rebranding, says the group, is intended to recognize the new ways people get their news and how newspapers deliver it to them.
I hope the new name helps publishers go after more ad revenue from advertisers and their agencies who often look at newspapers as “old school.” With readership at 179 million, whether on newsprint or online, the numbers are nothing to sneeze at.