Surge in UK digital mag sales | ABCs round-up | Assange extradition latest
Welcome to your daily newsletter from Press Gazette on Wednesday, 21 February.
Consumer magazine sales figures for 2023 make for fairly grim reading, I am afraid.
Overall circulation is down 12.4% according to our analysis of the numbers.
We have a full breakdown here which shows average monthly sales for every UK magazine title broken down by sector.
Some 53 titles have managed to grow year on year, helped by a boom in sales via "all you can read" magazine bundle subscriptions. These Spotify-style downloads have accounted for a 15% rise overall in digital edition sales and are counted by ABC as "actively purchased" sales. However in revenue terms the "all you can read" sales are likely to deliver a tiny fraction of the money that publishers see from direct subscriptions and the newsstand.
We've zoomed in on the news and current affairs magazine sector, where even Private Eye is flagging.
But there are success stories to be found with the likes of The Spectator (flat year on year at 97,000 sales per week) and The Economist Espresso daily digital edition up 74% year on year to 21,775 in the second half of 2023.
We also have the latest from the High Court where Julian Assange is facing a last-ditch fight against extradition to the US. His lawyers argued that Assange is the victim of a politically motivated attack by a US government which is seeking to protect the perpetrators of war crimes.
It is striking that, 17 years after the events shown in the Wikileaks "collateral murder" video, it is Assange who is behind bars rather than the US pilots who killed 11 civilians, including two Reuters journalists, in Iraq.
New from Press Gazette
Magazine ABCs 2023: Full breakdown of titles shows 12.4% circulation fall
However, more publications saw growth in 2023 than in 2022. In 2022 only 31 print or digital magazines saw circulations rise, compared with 53 in 2023.
Assange extradition to US is state retaliation for political reasons, High Court total
During the first day of the hearing on Tuesday, Mark Summers KC argued the US prosecution of Assange would be retribution for his political opinions, meaning it would be unlawful to extradite him under UK law.
ABCs: UK digital magazine sales surge boosted by Spotify-style bundled subscriptions
Digital edition sales appear to have been significantly inflated by “all you can read” sales – i.e. readers purchasing access to titles via third-party bundled magazine offerings such as Readly.
Magazine ABCs 2024: Private Eye sales dip as current affairs mags flag
The Economist’s cut-price Espresso daily digital edition was the fastest growing title, up 73.6% year on year to 21,775 - however only 3,859 of this total was in the UK.
News in brief
Cumbria Magazine (first published in 1947) is to merge with sister title Lakeland Walker (launched in 1996). The first expanded joint edition is out today, according to Dalesman Publications.
Former ITV News and 5 News presenter Matt Barbet has joined Sky News, marking a return to broadcast news after several years consulting with PR firm Freuds. (Sky News)
The New York Times is reportedly trialling a generative AI-powered advertising tool which will suggest where to run an ad campaign on nytimes.com based on the on-page content. In November The Guardian rolled out another contextual advertising solution, named Guardian Light, with the goal of targeting ads at readers who do not consent to cookies. (Axios)
GB News has brought its radio sales in-house having terminated its previous sales contract with Bauer Media. The opinion-led broadcaster said GB News Radio's audience is 60% ABC1 and 80% over-45. (The Media Leader)
Latest podcast
Podcast 65: Beyond Google? Amazon and Microsoft are future says Ricky Sutton
Former online editor of the News of the World turned tech entrepreneur turned future of news soothsayer Ricky Sutton joins Dominic Ponsford on the podcast sofa.
He explains why Google’s reign as the most important tech partner for news publishers is drawing to a close, but more lucrative partnerships around AI and advertising with Microsoft and Amazon beckon.
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