Let’s just say that there’s not a lot of profit for a monthly magazine with single-issue newsstand sales as low as this:
From a business standpoint, The New Republic was undoubtedly facing an uphill battle for profitability, even before last week’s events. According to the Pew Research Center and the Alliance for Audited Media, single copy sales of the magazine (considered the most objective measure of a magazine’s print appeal) have steadily declined over the past year, dropping to around 1,900 per issue.
They note that, between the first and second halves of 2013, newsstand sales fell by 57%, and fell a further 20% in the first of half of 2014.
One thousand, nine hundred readers. Per month.
Let me just give you a bit of perspective here:
At shortly after 10 a.m. on a quiet Sunday, I’ve already had more visitors to my obscure little personal blog today than there were copies of The New Republic sold in a recent month (not counting subscriptions).
That is not a viable business.
H/T to Kathy Shaidle, who also gets more daily traffic than TNR sells in a month.
