In the age of Internet news magazines that are more numerous than Klingons at a Star Trek Convention, most print high-tech magazines have seen declining circulation and print-ad space. This has been especially true in the Mac market as Ziff-Davis squandered such national treasures as MacWeek and MacUser. Today however, the good people at MacAddict have announced that they were one of only four high-tech print mags to see an increase in circulation AND print-ad pages in the 1st quarter of 1999. According to MacAddict:
The CPAR April 12th edition reports MacAddict (http://www.macaddict.com) posting 19.8% growth in advertising pages and a 78.2% increase in advertising revenue in Q1 '99 versus the same quarter a year ago.
MacAddict is one of only four high tech consumer magazines posting Q1 '99 gains.
Statement from CPAR
"Of the consumer publications, only four posted ad page increases in the quarter," states CPAR.
Additional growth is reflected in MacAddict's recent December 1998 BPA Statement. Total qualified paid circulation has increased 85% in the last 25 months (January 1997 Initial Audit report, December 1998 BPA Statement), and total qualified circulation is now at 160,017 readers including average newsstand sales of 52,797 copies at $7.99 each (December 1998 statement).
Part of this growth is fueled by MacAddict's involvement in Apple's "Card in the Box" program which provides all Apple customers with a choice of complimentary magazine subscriptions.
All of this news comes on the heels of MacAddict's second consecutive nomination from the Western Publications Association for Best Computing/Telecommunications magazine. MacAddict also recently won Folio's 1998 Editorial Excellence award for Best Consumer Computer Publication.
The Mac Observer Spin: Is it getting boring yet? It seems that of late there is not a day that passes where something is not announced indicating that the Mac market is healthier than it has been in a very long time.
Today is certainly no exception. MacAddict is certainly one of the exceptions as it breaks most of the rules that Mac magazines have followed for years, but any print magazine that is able to grow in terms of print-ad space and circulation is an indicator, a very important indicator, that the market that they are serving is healthy. This is because it takes companies willing to spend money to make the print-ad space grow. Generally, those companies have to have enough cash flow to make advertising a possibility.
Market share may be the most visible sign of health, but this, along with investment capital availability, are two of the most important, yet subtle signs.
Congratulations to MacAddict!
[Editor's Note: The Mac Observer is a member of the MacAddict Network which is owned by Imagine Media, the parent company of MacAddict Magazine.]
MacAddict Magazine
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