Every so often you stumble over a statistic that takes your breath away. Here’s one:
Newsweek’s paid newsstand circulation averages just under 67,000 copies a week.
Let’s see if we can estimate how many different places Newsweek can be purchased. Newsstand sales aren’t restricted to newsstands; they include all places magazines are sold, including supermarkets, bookstores, etc. So let’s do some math:
- There are slightly more than 35,000 supermarkets in the U.S. Most of them probably offer Newsweek in their checkout lines.
- There are about 50,000 drug stores in the U.S. Let’s say half of them sell magazines.
- There are 4,000 bookstores in the U.S. Again, let’s say half sell magazines.
- There are a bit more than 3,400 newsstands.
- Let’s not forget 7-Elevens, which all sell Newsweek: 5,700 of those. There are probably at least as many other convenience stores under different names.
Take all of those together—and I’m doubtless leaving out many other outlets where copies of Newsweek can be purchased—and you get 70,000 or so possible places you can plunk down $5.95 to pick up a copy of Newsweek.
In other words, unless something in my math is wacky, Newsweek sells an average of less than one newsstand copy a week in each place that it’s available.
(via sinker)
