Well-heeled also well-read

Among affluent Americans (and this usually goes for Canadians, too), consumer magazine readership is as healthy as it has ever been, according to the Mendelsohn Affluent Survey, an annual study investigating the habits of Americans with income exceeding $85,000 a year. This, from a story in MediaDaily News.

There were major increases for publications that specifically target the well-to-do, with a concentration among marine titles.

Thus, Boating readership jumped 40 percent, Motor Boating climbed 27 percent, Continental was up 45.5 percent, Ski was up 33 percent, and Yachting was up 55.6 percent.

But more mainstream pubs also enjoyed a lift in affluent readership. In the auto category, Automobile Magazine was up 31.2 percent, and Car and Driver was up 20.9 percent. In personal finance and business, BusinessWeek was up 16 percent, Barron's was up 11 percent, Forbes was up 11 percent, Inc. was up 35 percent, and SmartMoney was up 24 percent.

The Internet made fewer inroads, but the changes were still significant, said the story. Mendelsohn found an increase of more than 7 percent in the number of respondents using the Internet to do their banking, and an increase of roughly 5 percent for making transactions including purchases.