Similarly to general market publishers, major Hispanic magazine publishers have fine tuned their circulation strategy to better cope with the recession. Hispanic magazines typically have a higher ratio of newsstand (single copy sales) than general market publications, however newsstand sales in all magazines with the exception of Televisa Publishing and Digital’s TV y Novelas substantially declined during the 6 months period ending June 30, 2009 compared to the same period in 2008 (see Tables 1 and 2 below), according the most recent ABC report..
Paid subscriptions did increase substantially in all publications with the exception of Latina. Maya Publishing Group’s TV Notas, the only weekly publication analyzed, subscription base increased by a whopping 28%, albeit from a low base. Meredith’s Siempre Mujer, bimonthly, grew by 11.8% to almost 410,000 paid subscriptions.
Publishers substantially diminished controlled circulation figures to cut costs, this was reflected in total subscription decreases in Vanidades, Latina and TV y Novelas.
Table 1: Circulation Figures for Major Hispanic Magazines
|
| Averages for 6 Months Ended 6/30/09 | ||||
Publication Name | Single Copy Cover Price | Subscriptions | Single Copy Sales | Total Paid Verified & Analyzed Non-Paid | ||
Paid | Verified | Total | ||||
PEOPLE EN ESPANOL (monthly) | $2.99 | 325,902 | 107,852 | 459,944 | 107,639 | 567,583 |
LATINA (monthly) | $2.95 | 470,041 | 28,685 | 498,726 | 8,208 | 506,934 |
TV Y NOVELAS (biweekly) | $2.99 | 87,269 | 5,000 | 92,269 | 94,486 | 186,755 |
VANIDADES (biweekly) | $3.25 | 99,177 |
| 99,177 | 39,023 | 138,200 |
SIEMPRE MUJER (bimonthly) | $2.99 | 409,489 | 26,038 | 435,527 | 20,000 | 455,527 |
TV NOTAS (weekly) | $3.29 | 63,331 |
| 6,331 | 46,078 | 52,409 |
HISPANIC MAGAZINE (monthly) | $3.50 | 105,202 | 78,429 | 183,631 | 300 | 316,723 |
Source: ABC
Table 2: Percentage Increase/Decrease in Circulation at Major Hispanic Magazines vs. 6 months ended 06/30/08
| Susbscriptions | Single Copy Sales | Total Paid & Verified | Total Paid Verified & Analyzed Non-Paid | |
Paid | Total | ||||
PEOPLE EN ESPANOL | 6 | 6.2 | (16.4) | 1.0 | 1.0 |
LATINA | (3) | (2.8) | (33.0) | (3.5) | (3.5) |
TV Y NOVELAS | 9 | (13.2) | 10.6 | (2.6) | (2.6) |
VANIDADES | 13 | (19.5) | (20.5) | (19.8) | (19.8) |
SIEMPRE MUJER | 13 | 11.8 | (31.8) | 8.7 | 8.7 |
TV NOTAS | 28 | 28.4 | (13.7) | (10.1) | (10.1) |
HISPANIC MAGAZINE | 14 | 9.4 | (6.0) | 9.4 | 0.2 |
Source: ABC