Rolling Stone magazine gathering moss
The South African edition of Rolling Stone magazine, first published in November 2011, has seen a 55% drop in total circulation over the last quarter, according to new data from the Audit Bureau of Circulations (ABC).
The ABC has released circulation statistics for the period January 2013 to March 2013.
Rolling Stone has seen its total circulation fall to 7,155, from 15,889, having not submitted its numbers in the previous quarter.
It follows the announcement on Wednesday (15 May 2013) that Playboy SA would stop its print edition and focus on digital only, having seen its circulation decline to 3,839 in 2012.
Playboy was first published in South Africa from December 1993 to 1996, and was relaunched in March 2011.
Looking at the future of the print magazine and newspaper industry as a whole, ABC said: “In conclusion, the outlook for the balance of 2013 looks challenging, and in particular for publishers that have not brought their finances under control.”
The audit bureau noted that for daily newspapers, circulation has declined annually by 6.35 % since 2009, equivalent to 440,000 copies. However, Q1 only declined by 0.7% (9000 copies), compared to Q4 2012.
Total magazines declined by 2.5% (511,000 copies) over the previous quarter.
Business Day, which last week announced its intention to go behind a paywall, declined to a circulation of 33,690 from 35,897.
Afrikaans title, Beeld, which is due to adopt a digital first paywall strategy, declined to 67,700 from 75,019 in the previous corresponding period.
Weekend titles, the Sunday Times slipped to 442,018 from 455,129, and City Press slumped to 118,547 from 163,705 before.
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