The Sun-Herald

I couldn't help but notice The Bulletin had Newsweek typed over it in much smaller font. I wouldn't be surprised if there is a much larger strategy being played out here, such as, Newsweek being the replacement to The Bulletin. Greater profits could possibly be achieved by reducing the Australian journalists head count and having the Australian version of Newsweek printed offshore and airfreighted in just-in-time. This Australian version would consist of approximately 80% international content. If this is achieved then selling 57,000 copies per month (The Bulletin's last print sales) wouldn't be seen as bad. There is nothing stopping this from happening to any magazine. Or I could be totally wrong...

Tribal Mind asks: But how would that make money for any publisher? Australians wouldn't buy Newsweek either.

• by Patrick on February 17, 2008 at 11:09 PM

I used to buy magazines mainly for the short stories they had but now there'll be one story at the most. I wonder if that's part of the reason for the sales drop.

Tribal Mind replies: Being able to read everything sooner on the internet might also have something to do with it.

• by Adele on February 18, 2008 at 05:26 AM

Magazines are extortion - Cosmo, Vogue etc sell for about $8-10. That's why I've stopped buying them. They bring an hour or two of pleasure and then you throw them out. Big waste of money.

• by Kati on February 18, 2008 at 07:47 AM

Not too interested in mags anymore. Cost too high and they are too full of ads. with little of substance. The internet give us all the info we could possibly need.

I only read mags if I am stuck in a Drs waiting room or maybe at a cafe I will flick through a mag whilst having a coffee. So I am reading something someone else has bought, not spending my own cash . I think most people are like that now. If I do splurge on something to read I'd rather buy a book.

• by em on February 18, 2008 at 08:45 AM

Has anyone ever read ymi magazine? They were the first to create something that delivered real content, not gossip. It's a magazine for young Australians. Alas, I think it is struggling as they are independent, in fact, the latest issue, with Bjork, may well be the last one (if you believe the gossip)... it would be a crying shame.

• by Tom Summers on February 18, 2008 at 09:19 AM

My hope is that Australian women are sick of the brainless worship of the 'celebrity', especially those that are a complete embarrasment to women such as Paris Hilton. Not that I have minded reading a few real articals on real talent such as Nicole Kidman, Cate Blanchet and others in thier league (and I note that these real articals and interviews are never found in these particular mags), but then with many of the crappy money grubbing gossip rags you can gaurantee that everything you read is pure garbage. For the mags that have experienced a rise in sales, maybe it is because readers are now looking for something that relates to them and thier lives such as cookery, thier homes and families and thier own health and fitness (and yes, ogling big boobs for the blokes). The celebrity crap is not real to the average person and you can only take so much of mag headlines that scream hysterically 'Shock', 'Horror' 'Secret', 'Tragic', 'Baby Bump', 'Too Fat', 'Too Thin', 'Completely Wacko' 'Bizarre' and 'Scandal!' I am sure that persistant and relentless hounding and consumption of human train wrecks such as Brittany Spears may have also affected people who are realising how far these tabloids will push poor persons like her for every last drop just so they have a sick sale for thier mag rather than leave the person alone to get well.

It would be interesting to see how some mags such as 'Thats Life!' and 'Take Five' have fared in sales as they offer thier readers real life stories by ordinary people as well as thier various small competitions.

• by Celticangel on February 18, 2008 at 09:33 AM

Forget religion. The popular cult these days is the cult of celebrity. The boom in reality shows in the early noughties translated into celebrity reality shows. And since everyone loves a good train wreck, popularity has flourished. If Billy Ray and his daughter don't wear a seat belt in a movie apparently it's newsworthy. If Naomi Watts cries at Tropfest over her late-ex, it's a front page story. Nobody cares about real issues anymore. It's an extension of neighbourhood gossip, but because of the immediacy of the Internet, the neighbourhood is worldwide. In a world which is becoming increasingly self centred it's amazing how society feeds at gossip like vultures.

• by Bereft Skerrick on February 18, 2008 at 10:23 AM

Have a read of Dumbo Feather if you're looking for a decent mook (mag / book) to read. It's got great in-depth interviews and is published every quarter.

• by Andrew Johnson on February 18, 2008 at 12:37 PM

I don't think people are losing interest in gossip. On the contrary their appetite for juicy celeb news now must be satisfied whenever, wherever. Hence the rise of blogs like Dlisted.com, TMZ.com and PerezHilton.com. In the same manner, readers of political and news content were not happy to wait for the Bulletin to come out when there are so many excellent online pundits with whom they can also interact through the comments.
Traditional media forces people to subscribe to the whim and schedules of a publisher or broadcaster. It's a pity that so few have truly embraced social media because people are switching off in droves!

• by Gwen on February 18, 2008 at 01:13 PM

Agree that the internet and cutting costs is a factor, but it would be interesting to see what the circulation of British magazine Hello is here. It's a very reasonable price for the quality and content. Yes, it's a gossip magazine, but they stick to the facts. I'm afraid I don't believe a word I read in either New Idea or Woman's Day any more.

• by Marg on February 18, 2008 at 01:52 PM

I work for a smaller Australian publication called Archaeological Diggings and we have actually seen an increase in the last few months. It seems that along with the likes of the magazines that are increasing in sales already mentioned, history is becoming more popular also. Perhaps we are simply sick of hearing about the sad a sorry tales of another troubled celebrity and are craving more real information about where we have come from (our mag for example) and what we can do to make sure we are still here in the future (food and health etc).

• by Michael Browning on February 18, 2008 at 03:19 PM

There are some people who have responded in this blog that they do not purchase magazines anymore due to the hike in interest rates making such little luxuries unaffordable and then there is the group that apparently get thier celeb gossip online rendering the goss mags 'so yesterday' with thier content by the time they come out.
But how does this explain the increased sales of the other mags? It so appears that there are some who can still afford to buy magazines, but are choosing ones that are more orientated to them rather than some plastic dill from planet Celebrity. Prehaps the internet is to blame for the gossip mags decline, but there is still a rise in interest in these other mags, just like Micheal Brownings Archeology mag above and the others listed in the article as being 'on the rise' in sales.
But prehaps another killer of the goss mags is the great Australian tabloid called the Daily Telegraph.

• by Celticangel on February 19, 2008 at 09:30 AM