As the top 10 go, so goes the newsstand

Baird Davis has a comprehensive look in the trade magazine Audience Development at the newsstand situation in the U.S. , a situation that went flooey in the last half of 2008. The sales slide began in the first half, he says, and "accelerated liked a souped-up Maserati in the second half" as sales declines a record 10.1% and revenue was down 2.1%

Changes included a sharp decline in sales, a decrease in sales by the leading companies, an increase in average price of checkouts and a particular fall by the reigning royalty of checkout titles, celebrity magazines. Davis notes that, as the top 10 publications go, so goes the newsstand as a whole and here's what his analysis of changes since 2000 showed:

1. Cover prices increased dramatically (in 2000, 8 of the top 10 were priced below $3; in 2008, only one was, and that was Woman's World at $2.99)
2. Frequency increased (the average annual frequency increased from 41 to 47.6 issues)
3. Unit sales decreased in lockstep with the market (top 10 decreased 28.9% from 2000 to 2008; so did all other audited titles)
4. Top 10 titles' revenue increased; all others declined