Newsstand Sales Drop for Newsweeklies

As newsstand sales of newsweeklies dropped in the first half of 2005, celebrity title newsstand sales have increased, according to the Audit Bureau of Circulations. People and Us Weekly, for example, gained in single-copy sales, while Time newsstand sales dropped 3.4 percent from last year and Newsweek's single-copy sales plummeted 14 percent from last year, writes Mediaweek. However, total circulation for Time and Newsweek rose slightly, and newsstand sales account for only a small percentage of overall sales for those titles, while celebrity mags depend greatly on those single-copy sales. Newsweekly publishers say that newsstand sales run in cycles - last year, numbers were strong thanks to the presidential race, the Summer Olympic Games, and the death of Ronald Reagan.