We’ve already established how much I love print magazines in  Brand Storytelling: 3 Brands Leveraging Print Magazine Strategies, and as an Editor of Blueline Magazine, I am a tad partial to the power of print magazines and how they can be used to tell your brand story. However, personal opinions and biases aside, the popularity of print magazines cannot be denied despite the assumption that print magazines are dying. This assumption is easily debunked by a few statistics courtesy of the 2017-2018 Magazine Media Factbook from The Association of Magazine Media.

Fact #1
226 new print magazines were launched in 2016
Of those 226, 32 were published in the crafts/games/hobbies categories, while the rest focused on pop-culture and fashion.

Fact #2
Magazine content is deeply absorbing, whether in print or digital editions.
This statistic is one of the most fascinating trends in favor of print media as print readers spent on average 51.7 minutes per issue compared to 49.2 on digital edition readers.

Fact #3
Americans of all ages read magazines–especially young adults.
I know everyone is glued to their smartphones but numbers don’t lie. 94% of those under 25 have read a digital or print magazine in the last six months. On the flip side, the audience for print and digital magazines have increased by 5.4 million 18+ readers from 2016-2017. The top 25 print magazines reach more adults and teens than the top 25 primetime TV shows.

Fact #4
Paper-based reading simply works because, you know, science.
Print magazines have a leg up on digital magazines because reading on paper is a slower and deeper process. When the brain works harder, readers tend to remember more.

Fact #5
Magazines have the highest return on advertising.
Print magazines boost sales and generate positive ROI on advertising spend, whether in print or on a digital platform. This means that print magazines are the largest gateway to magazine subscriptions.

The stats back the fact that print magazines are doing better than ever in our modern marketing world. If anything, it proves that there is even more value in the magazine medium and while our digital society evolves, print is timeless and proven.