Bauer clinches 4 out of 5 top spots in Harrington’s newsstand/subscription pricing ratios’ study
June 18, 2007
Four out of the top five magazine titles with the highest ratio of subscription price versus newsstand cover price are found to be publications of the Bauer Publishing company. A comparison of magazine newsstand cover prices and the “average price” the publisher is selling a subscription copy for, was completed by Harrington Associates, publisher of The New Single Copy. The list (Published in the June 18 issue of The New Single Copy newsletter) of major titles with the highest ratio is dominated by the titles of Bauer Publishing. “The company’s weeklies, Life & Style, Woman’s World, and In Touch, are the only magazines combining average newsstand sales of more than 500,000 with ratios of over 70%,” Harrington’s study found. “A fourth Bauer title, the monthly First for Women, is next on the list with a 58.3% ratio.” Time Inc.’s People magazine rounds up the top five. It should be noted that Bauer is launching another weekly this coming September, Cocktail Weekly which may end up rounding all top five titles in John Harrington’s next year’s study. Those of you who may recall my call for bold steps at the newsstands two weeks ago (read them here), can see why Bauer Publishing is an excellent example of the “right way to handle magazines and their audiences.” I am sure that there is more than one lesson to learn here, but is anyone listening?
Mr. Magazine 
Well, that was quick. You didn’t mention that Bauer’s low priced titles are probably unprofitable for wholesalers. There has to something better than this Hobson’s choice. I plan to write more about this in upcoming issues.
John