MRI: Magazine Readership Remains Stable

According to measurement service Mediamark Research & Intelligence, which rebranded itself GfK MRI this week, readership among consumer magazines has remained stable. Results of its spring survey indicate that between spring 2009 and spring 2010 readership clicked almost a full percentage point higher.

GfK MRI releases its readership report twice a year in the spring and fall. Compared to last fall, spring 2010 was flat at +.45 percent.

Among categories, men's health and fashion was inconsistent between spring 2009 and 2010, but with no alarming trends. Esquire was down (-6 percent) while GQ was up (11 percent). Men's Fitness was up (8 percent) while Men's Health and Men's Journal were down (-4 percent and -8 percent, respectively).

Business magazines were generally flat-to-down. Bloomberg Businessweek dropped almost 6 percent. Forbes lost one percent of its readership while Fortune gained 3 percent. Money dropped 3.5 percent.

The biggest gainer year-over-year is Future's Official Xbox Magazine, which jumped 42 percent over spring 2009. PC World (39 percent) and Life & Style Weekly (31 percent) round out the top three.

Dropping the most was Handy magazine, the publication of the Handyman Club of America, which lost 24 percent of its readership from spring 2009 to spring 2010.

Newsweek, which the Washington Post Company is hoping to sell, dropped 14 percent for the year, while Time also dropped slightly by 5 percent. The Economist remained flat with a 1 percent gain.

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