New York magazine will raise its subscription prices and cut circulation in an effort to stanch falling revenues and target higher quality readers.
With the July 13 issue, the weekly’s rate base will drop from 425,000 to 400,000, with many of the cut copies coming from public place circulation. New York is cutting its public place copies by 33%, to 42,000, but will keep issues in select, high-traffic salons and doctor’s offices. Other circ cuts took place on low-performing newsstands, starting in January 2009.
“Like every responsible company in this day and age, New York magazine is working hard to reduce costs and increase revenues,” Publisher Larry Burstein said in a statement. “We believe that our magazine is valuable and worth paying for, and history has shown that our readers feel the same way. By reducing our circulation slightly and lowering our newsstand draw, we’ll be able to better target our magazine to the readers who will be most engaged with the product.”
Most of New York‘s circulation is in the New York DMA. Readers, who skew slightly male, have a median age of 39.9 and a median household income of $80,107, per MRI.
New York has been cutting its public place copies for years now, reducing them 45%, from a high of 91,708, since 2005.
Introductory subscription prices also have been rising steadily for the magazine. With the latest 25% increase, from $19.97 to $24.97, subscriptions will have gone up 56% since 2005. Newsstand prices also have increased regularly for the magazine, rising 20% between June 2007 and June 2008.
Earlier this year, New York announced that it would trim two issues — June 22 and August 17 — from its summer publishing schedule in the face of a 20% decline in ad revenue for the quarter.
