Mobile consumption, video boost magazine audience

In addition, audience numbers are at the highest they’ve ever been, according to the association’s Magazine Media Audience Report, boosted by video and mobile media.

The data shows that the monthly gross audience for magazine brands averaged 1.6 billion from August 2014 to January 2015, up from 1.4 billion between August 2013 and January 2014.

These strong numbers were supported by explosive growth from video and mobile web consumption, the report said, which were up 58 percent and 83 percent respectively compared with the prior-year period. 

Print and digital editions and the web (measuring desktop and laptop usage), meanwhile, were up 1 percent aggregate. 

The top 10 magazine brands, according to their six-month average audience numbers for the August 2014 to January 2015 period, are as follows.

--People magazine (76,595)
--Better Homes and Gardens (50,926)
--Allrecipes (45,930)
--AARP The Magazine (43,240)
--Forbes (41,695)
--Time (41,288)
--National Geographic (39,669)
--AARP Bulletin (37,674)
--Sports Illustrated (35,467)
--Cosmopolitan (30,034)

The report captures the content demand by measuring audiences across various platforms and formats, including print and digital editions, websites and video.

It uses data from third-party providers that submit their data to MPA-The Association of Magazine Media every month, and covers about 145 magazine media brands from more than 30 companies to represent approximately 95 percent of readers.