Today I decided to delve into the circulation statistics of the various scrapbook magazines to see what light they may shed on the state of CK Media and of the industry in general.
Brace yourself…here comes a lot of statistics…
First, their advertising content numbers are revealing about why Simple Scrapbooks was discontinued. The previous two published issues (Jan/Feb 2009 and Mar/Apr 2009) have been only 15% and 11% paid advertising content,
respectively.
A look at the circulation statistics (as filed in their annual USPS circulation reports) of all of the major scrapbook magazines is definitely educational. It both explains where the magazines in this industry have been, and points to where they might be going.
One of the statistics that the magazines must report in their USPS circulation statements is the average per-issue circulation of all issues in the past 12 months. The most recent available reports were filed on October 1st, 2008. I did some comparing to the ones that were filed the same day in 2007.
PaperCrafts and Creating Keepsakes‘ average circulation per issue was basically stable between 2007 and 2008. Simple Scrapbooks dropped approximately 8% from 2007 to 2008, and Digital Scrapbooking Magazine dropped around 12%.
Volume of circulation is even more important than the percentage amount of change in that number, however. Circulation numbers show that Scrapbooks Etc. is the unquestioned ruler of the magazine market in scrapbooking. Their average circulation of 280,000 copies dwarfs the next largest contender – Creating Keepsakes – who only averages about 200,000 copies. Scrapbooks Etc. crushes everyone else’s sales on the newsstand, moving more than twice as many copies there as CK, and providing them a circulation advantage of about 45,000 copies through that outlet. Their average subscriber volume is also about 35,000 stronger than Creating Keepsakes.
(An interesting aside about newsstand sales of scrapbook magazines: At my local Publix grocery store this afternoon there were 3 scrapbook magazines available for sale – Scrapbooks Etc, Creating Keepsakes, & PaperCrafts – and no less than nine quilting titles.)
For total circulation the magazines are ranked in their 2008 average circulation reports as follows:
- Scrapbooks Etc. (280,000)
- Creating Keepsakes (200,000)
- PaperCrafts (177,000)
- Memory Makers (159,000)
- Simple Scrapbooks (120,000)
- Digital Scrapbooking (36,000)
(Other magazines are not included because I did not have the issues that contained the circulation reports.)
The surprise strong second place contender on the newsstand is PaperCrafts. In fact, both Simple and PaperCrafts on average outsold Creating Keepsakes on the newsstand in the 2008 circulation numbers.
Looking at the numbers in the list above, it is a little easier to understand the actions taken by CK Media in the past few months of shuttering the magazines that it did. Even if there were those of us like myself who loved the two titles, obviously we were in publishing terms too small of an audience.
What do those numbers mean going forward? Scrapbooks Etc. seems in the strongest position – their circulation is strong and they are still managing a higher percentage of ad content at a higher page count than anyone else.
Creating Keepsakes would seem to be in a relatively strong position as well, except that we already know the company has dug themselves a deep hole.
Advertising content at both PaperCrafts and Memory Makers has dropped to dangerous levels, and they don’t have the circulation strength of CK and Scrapbooks Etc. to rely on. The health of those publications will bear watching.
No one in the publishing industry is immune from trouble in current times. Publications are dropping right and left. We shouldn’t expect the scrapbook industry to be any different.
One BIG advantage that Scrapbooks Etc. has is that it is under the Better Homes and Garden Family. When you go through the checkout of any supermarket, especially the big supercenters, you see lots of BHG magazines in the line. At my supercenter, BHG’s Scrapbooks Etc. is usually in there along with their special issues. This marketing puts the magazines in a high traffic area, thus their newsstand sales are a lot higher than other SB magazines.
The CK magazines, Memory Makers, etc. all can be found in racks at the end of the scrapbooking/crafting isles in these supercenters. There they are only targeting a specific group and there is not as much traffic.
If CK Media could get their magazines in the checkout lines, it may help their sales. I know every week I am at the supercenter there is a wait in line and I always pick up magazines and flip through them. If I find something I like, it goes into my cart. If that mag hadn’t been in the checkout line, I probably would not have bought it.
Also, CK Media’s problems are far deeper than low sales. For their debt to be $70 million, as reported in your first post about this, there was a lot of mismanagement that has been going on for years. Just like the corporate giants who are asking for government handouts, we are finding they they gave out ungodly high amounts in bonuses and salaries for the upper management. That is why I would love to see CK Media’s expense reports to see where the money actually went. A lot of people would be shocked.
Thank You, Nancy, for bringing this information to light.
Steph, are you saying that you have information that upper management at CKMedia was paid unusually high amounts? Or did you mean that you’re just wondering?
Nancy, although MM has low circulation numbers, I wonder if they could still be in strong standing if their financing and managing are good. It’s been obvious for a long time that CK was not being run well as a business. I have limited experience with MM, but from what I’ve seen, MM is managed well (at least currently) and they are very professional and ethical. If a magazine runs itself in a way where it can pay its debts/people and still make some kind of a profit, I hope it can stick around, even if the circulation and advertising is low.
“Steph, are you saying that you have information that upper management at CKMedia was paid unusually high amounts? Or did you mean that you’re just wondering?”
Noell, I’m just wondering. When the financial reports of major banks and corporations (for ex. the auto industry) have been made public, the upper mgt. and CEO’s, CFO’s etc. made huge salaries and received bonuses that were over the top. It is also what contributed to the companies needing bailout money or closing their doors. That is why I would love to see CK Media’s financial reports, to see where the money really went.
Nancy
This is really interesting. I always assumed CK had stronger circulation than SBE. But I don’t live in the US and I rely on my subscriptions (I actually once bought a SBE here in Jamaica but I was very very surprised to see it in the store; I am sure it was a fluke.)
I’ve written to you about this before, but I’m sure CK’s terrible website(s) has something to do with their poor financial performance. Even after their website relaunch it was still really poor. From day one of my life as a scrapbooker I couldn’t understand how they could allow their website to be so awful, when websites are so important in this business, and where it’s not rocket science to have a decent, properly functioning website.
Anyway, keep reporting on this please; I am following it all with great interest.
As the former managing editor of Simple Scrapbooks magazine, I’d like to briefly chime in on the circulation discussion. Circulation is a complicated business. The circulation dip from 2007 to 2008 was due to its removal from school programs. (Simple was later put back in the school programs…in fact I got a fundraising flier from my nephew the week after I heard about Simple closing.) Anyway, these programs offer magazine subscriptions for next to nothing, and they can cause a temporary uptick in circulation, but these subscribers are unlikely to renew and they bring almost no money to the titles. I can attest that, according to the last statistics I personally received, Simple’s overall subscriber numbers were slowly but steadily increasing, and newsstand sales were holding steady in a declining newsstand market. Also, one major indicator of the health of a magazine (and whether its message is resonating with readers) is the rate at which subscribers renew. Simple’s renewal rate was 38 percent, which is very strong comparatively. The demise of simple had to do with two primary things: 1) If you don’t have enough advertisers to support two scrapbook magazines, you close the smallest one, and 2) while Simple was growing, it wasn’t growing quickly enough, and bi-monthly magazines simply don’t have the ability to make dramatic or immediate financial transformations. Thanks for opportunity to contribute to this discussion.
Thanks Angie for your comment. I’m still really sad to hear about Simple. I was avid subscriber for past 3 years and was just about to renew too!
Hope you are able to find a new job soon.