#NEWSWEEK FINAL PRINT ISSUE PLUS#

Here, Newsweek’s biggest plunge occurred from 2008 to 2010, falling 55%. Though single-copy sales make up only a small portion of news magazines’ overall circulation (just 3%, in Newsweek’s case), this indicator is considered a more objective measure than subscriptions of a publication’s health. ( For more read the State of the News Media 2013: News Magazines’ Overall Circulation) The Atlantic and The Week grew the most, with the Atlantic enjoying a 4.7% rise in total circulation to 485,300 copies sold and The Week growing 4.4% to 551,658 copies. The more niche oriented news magazines fared far better in the last decade, though their overall print audience has been smaller than both Time and Newsweek. Time, by comparison, saw a 22% decline in that time period. Newsweek’s overall circulation (single-copy sales and subscriptions together) plunged 50% over the span of 10 years, according to the Alliance for Audited Media: In a longer span, it dropped from 3.2 million in 1992 to 1.5 million in 2012. Pew Research analysis of these benchmarks paints a rather grim picture for news magazines in general, but especially for Newsweek. In the magazine industry, a publication’s health is typically measured by two key indicators: circulation (the number of copies sold, either on newsstands or through print or digital replica subscriptions), and sales of advertising copy, known as ad pages. Managing Decline: Deep Losses in Revenue and Audience Brown still says she expects Newsweek to break even by the fourth quarter of 2013, but executives have been saying that since at least early 2011. And the end of the print product in December 2012 will likely further reduce revenue, even if it helps usher the Newsweek brand into a mobile and digital future. But that may be mostly an indication of the newsweekly reaching bottom. There were some signs of stabilization in 2012, the last year that Newsweek published a print edition. The next year, 2011, with the merger completed, IAC reported losses of nearly $14 million in its media group, which included Newsweek, The Daily Beast and several other websites. In 2010, Newsweek’s internal documents projected a $22 million dollar overall loss for that year, less than half of what it had been the previous year.

#NEWSWEEK FINAL PRINT ISSUE PLUS#

In August 2010, Newsweek was sold to audio industry businessman Sidney Harman for $1, plus the assumption of liabilities. With these revenue declines, the magazine had an overall loss of $6 million in 2007 (before pension credits), which ballooned to $56 million in 2009.

Its revenues plummeted 38% in that three-year period, according to internal Newsweek documents. Between 2007 and the end of 2009, when the magazine was still owned by the Washington Post Co., Newswee k reduced its total staff by 33%, according to Pew Research analysis of the magazines’ staff boxes. But for Newsweek, the past few years have been especially tumultuous. The news magazine genre in general has faced a difficult time transitioning to the digital space. “Newsweek is a powerful brand,” she wrote, “but its demands have taken attention away from The Daily Beast.” Editor-in-chief Tina Brown confirmed this in a memo on Wednesday, May 29. It would be the magazine’s second sale within a three-year period that included a merger with The Daily Beast and the decision to cease publishing a print edition. On Tuesday, May 28, Variety reported that IAC, Barry Diller’s media and internet company, is considering selling Newsweek.

Newsweek final print issue