Allrecipes has grown tremendously since the print edition launched back in November 2013. Starting with an initial rate base of 500,000 readers, Meredith just announced that the upcoming September/October 2015 issue will increase its rate base to 1.25 million, totaling 150-percent growth since its launch.
This bump is certainly not reflective of the current industry norm, as the Alliance for Audited Media just released the first half Snapshot report stating a 2.2-percent drop in magazine circulation. But, fellow epicurean titles such as EatingWell and Food Network Magazine did increase circulation, just not as steep as Allrecipes'.
Allrecipes attributes its rapid growth to a highly engaged audience, which has furthered "support from advertisers and their top brands in key markets across the country," says publisher, Steven Grune, in a statement. The September/October issue has secured some of these new advertisers, including Coca-Cola, Kraft and Mars, to name a few.
Grune's outlook on the relevancy of magazines is very positive, claiming that the growth of Allrecipes' digital-to-print brand extension speaks volumes "to the tremendous value and passionate connection consumers still have with magazines." That's up for debate, though, depending where the magazine brand lies on the latest newsstand stumble.
