Studies: Magazines Remain Widely Popular

Nearly 190 million American adults read print magazines, and the magazine landscape is beginning to recover from the vicious recession, two new reports show. That might not be good news to the digital villagers seeking to drive a stake through the heart of print periodicals, but it should hearten the rest of us.

More than 188 million American adults read at least one print magazine, according to the American Magazine Survey from Affinity. Men slightly outnumber women among readers – 84 percent to 80 percent – and the average American adult reads 6.1 different magazines.

The Affinity study involved interviews with 34,000 adults in 2010.

Luckily, they’ll have plenty of magazines to read, at least judging from the demolition derby that has been the magazine publishing industry in recent years. After taking a big hit in 2009, when 596 magazines closed up shop, only 176 magazines ceased publication in 2010, according to MediaFinder, a database for the magazine industry.

Matt Kinsman, writing on Foliomag.com, notes that during that same time, there were 193 new magazines launched. There were 28 new food titles produced in 2010, with regional and health magazines also producing many new launches, with 15 and 10, respectively, Kinsman reports. Niches that did not do well this past year included home magazines, which lost 13 titles, and the large business-to-business sector, where 47 titles ceased publication while only 34 launched.