Stephanie Smith of Women’s Wear Daily writes Thursday that it’s the goal of business magazine Conde Nast Portfolio to have 900 pages of advertising in 2008.
Smith wrote, “Sources close to the magazine and with access to circulation figures say the title has collected around 300,000 subscriptions and, on average, sold 85,000 newsstand copies an issue. They also estimate Portfolio’s single-copy sell-through percentage is between 15 and 18 percent (a Portfolio spokeswoman declined to comment on the numbers). The magazine has attempted to pop at newsstand by using more abstract cover images, but in recent issues has moved toward a single image — the January cover was the first to feature a close-up of a human.
“A new magazine’s sell through percentage is naturally lower than that of an established title, since most publishers tend to blanket newsstands with issues for maximum visibility while assessing where the magazine sells best. John Harrington, editor of magazine industry newsletter The New Single Copy, believed Condé Nast would be satisfied if Portfolio’s sell-through were in the mid-20 percent range. As a new title matures, a successful one should increase that number to around the 30 percent range or higher. ‘Fifteen percent certainly wouldn’t make them happy,’ said Harrington.
“Portfolio’s circulation, as with most business magazines, is based largely on subscriptions, so its newsstand performance is not the only judge of the magazine’s circulation strength. ‘It’s somewhere in between a business and a men’s or lifestyle magazine, in terms of how they’re positioning it. So it’s a little harder to judge than normal,’ added Harrington.”
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