Single copy sales of Maclean's show that the Whyte touch works

Maclean's magazine publisher and editor Ken Whyte said that he placed great stock in single copy sales as a metric for the success of his shakeup of the magazine. While the magazine is still in the process of "managing down" its subscriber base to the vicinity of 350,000, which he thinks is optimum, there is no question that his provocative direction of the magazine's cover stories has had the desired effect on the newsstand.

According to the latest Audit Bureau of Circulations FAS-FAX data for Canada, as reported in Masthead magazine (sub req'd), Maclean's was on of the top 10 single copy sales gainers in the last six months of 2006, up 25%. Other top gainers were Canadian Home & Country, Elle Canada, Today’s Parent and Applied Arts.

The data for the top 10 single copy gainers was as follows:

MAGAZINE	% Increase	Actual copies
1. WHAT'S UP KIDS FAMILY	654%	3,844
2. REVUE COMMERCE	102%	964
3. APPLIED ARTS MAGAZINE	55%	2,922
4. CANADIAN HOME & COUNTRY	49%	15,450
5. COTTAGE	44%	4,436
6. ELLE CANADA	42%	34,438
7. WESTERN SPORTSMAN	36%	2,215
8. TODAY'S PARENT	31%	9,417
9. BEL AGE	28%	6,564
10. MACLEAN'S	25%	11,458