Markets

Don't Look Now, but Magazine Apps Are Actually Goosing Newsstand Sales

By Marion Maneker

Updated on: October 26, 2010 / 3:32 PM EDT / MoneyWatch

Nat Ives has some good numbers on the sales for app editions of existing magazines in AdAge. The reaction to these numbers has been disappointment -- but they're really not all that bad when you think about it, and in fact actually represent good news for some publications. More on that in a moment.

A lot of reaction so far has been driven by warped expectations following Wired's success in selling more iPad app editions than newsstand copies (105,000 app vs. 75,000 paper newsstand) in its first month. That's true even though Wired's app sales have since settled to a fraction of existing newsstand sales.

Poynter's Mobile Media blog pulled all the numbers out of the Ad Age story:

Popular Science: average monthly sales of 14,034 from April through July
Wired: 105,000 sales in June; 31,000 in July; 28,000 in August; 32,000 in September
Men's Health: average sales of 3,174 for April, May, June and July/August issues
People: 10,800 downloads per weekly issue (includes print subscriber downloads)
Glamour: 4,099 sales for its September issue
GQ: average sales of 13,310 from April through August (includes iPhone and iPad editions)
Vanity Fair: average monthly sales of 8,925 from June through September (includes iPhone and iPad editions)

There are some obvious problems with app versions of magazines, the primary one being the limitations of the app store. Anything in the app store is buried from view. Until there's a good way to market the apps to readers on a one-off basis, app sales will be hobbled.

With that in mind, some of the app sales numbers are quite impressive because the app sales are not yet cannibalizing the print sales. With apps priced the same as print, publishers will view each app sold as a rise in newsstand sales.

So, sure, no one is getting a promotion at Men's Journal for the 3,174 apps sold on average over the first three months. That's a one percent increase in newsstand and doesn't cover the development costs. Vanity Fair, too, has seen low numbers in the 2% of newsstand range for its 8925 average app sale across the three months.

GQ, however, saw something better with 13,310 which gets the number up to 7%. That's a good base to start from. And Ives has some very positive numbers that if they were expressed as a flat-out increase in newsstand sales would have magazine execs standing on their chairs and cheering:

Popular Science's issues from April through July, the ones that averaged 14,034 sales on the iPad, averaged 115,101 newsstand sales in the offline world. Its iPad sales were equivalent to 12% of its newsstand.

Popular Science's 12% increase in newsstand sales is nothing compared to the steady flow of app sales at Wired. I know, I know. It's Wired. If their readers haven't bought an iPad, who has? Nonetheless, they've seen a whopping 37% increase in newsstand over three months.

What magazine gets a 37% pop in newsstand that's sustained? This month there are boobs on the cover, which is sure to pull the four-month average way up.

Image of iPad with Wired Magazine App courtesy of CVander via Flickr