Magazines Reaching the Print-Digital Audience Tipping Point

NEW YORK—Dec. 19, 2011—For most magazines, leveraging digital platforms to deliver content and advertising has helped to extend the audience reach of their brands. For a handful, the audiences generated through digital delivery channels have now surpassed their traditional print delivery.

According to the most recent wave of Affinity’s American Magazine Study surveys—which report the total magazine brand footprint across print, mobile and social platforms, as well as integrating magazine Website data from comScore’s Media Metrix—there are now 15 magazines generating larger digital audiences than print reader numbers.

For some of these brands—like WebMD the Magazine, ESPN the Magazine and Food Network Magazine—it may come as no surprise, since the printed magazine is an extension of an already established Web or broadcast presence. But the remaining brands reflect a conscious effort on the part of the publisher to develop new distribution outlets beyond the printed page.