Even the Kimye Wedding Couldn't Save Celeb Magazines

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Jessica Simpson's wedding, Gwyneth Paltrow's split, and adorable baby photos of Prince George weren't enough to get people to buy magazines on the newsstands this year. The New York Times reports that newsstand sales of celebrity magazines were way down in the first half of 2014.

Compared to the same time period in 2013, the Alliance for Audited Media Overall's data showed that newsstand sales for People, InStyle and US Weekly dropped by almost 15 percent. People StyleWatch had a 32.8 percent decline in newsstand sales. Tabloids like In Touch Weekly, Star Magazine, and Life & Style Weekly all had a more than 20 percent drop in newsstand sales. Vanity Fair dropped by 11.8 percent.

Total circulation for magazines overall dropped by 1.9 percent, while subscriptions dropped by 1.8 percent and single copy sales dropped by 11.9 percent. It wasn't all bad news for celeb mags though: their subscriptions had modest growth. Even though People StyleWatch saw a decline in newsstand sales, it increased its subscriptions by 23 percent. And bad weather this winter could've had something to do with the lack of impulse purchase magazine buying.

A media analyst told the Times that one huge celebrity news story could give magazine newsstand sales a big bump. "All that could change if there's one big story like a Michael Jackson, something that is monumental. The more unexpected the better," said Steven Cohn, the editor of Media Industry Newsletter.
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