The South African edition of\u00a0Rolling Stone\u00a0magazine, first published in November 2011, has seen a 55% drop in total circulation over the last quarter, according to new data from \u00a0the Audit Bureau of Circulations (ABC).<\/p>\n
The ABC has released circulation statistics for the period January 2013 to March 2013.<\/p>\n
Rolling Stone has seen its total circulation fall to 7,155, from 15,889, having not submitted its numbers in the previous quarter.<\/p>\n
It follows the announcement on Wednesday (15 May 2013)\u00a0 that Playboy SA would stop its print edition and focus on digital only, having seen its circulation decline to 3,839 in 2012.<\/p>\n
Playboy was first published in South Africa from December 1993 to 1996, and was relaunched in March 2011.<\/p>\n
Looking at the future of the print magazine and newspaper industry as a whole, ABC said: \u201cIn conclusion, the outlook for the balance of 2013 looks challenging, and in particular for publishers that have not brought their finances under control.\u201d<\/p>\n
The audit bureau noted that for daily newspapers, circulation has declined annually by 6.35 % since 2009, equivalent\u00a0 to 440,000 copies. However, Q1 only declined by 0.7% (9000 copies), compared to Q4 2012.<\/p>\n
Total magazines declined by 2.5% (511,000 copies) over the previous quarter.<\/p>\n
Business Day, which last week announced its intention to go behind a paywall, declined to a circulation of 33,690 from 35,897.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
Weekend titles, the Sunday Times slipped to 442,018 from 455,129, and City Press slumped to 118,547 from 163,705 before.<\/p>\n
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