The Hurt Begins for 'In Touch,' 'Life & Style'

Looks like I spoke too soon when I said In Touch and Life & Style weren't feeling any pain from their cover-price increases. Mediaweek reports that sales of both tabloids have fallen off since they went from $1.99 to $2.99 two issues ago. Life & Style is down around 10 percent, while In Touch has lost a more alarming 25 percent (although, as Mediaweek notes, November is an off month for the category as a whole).

In fact, that 25 percent slide is about what you'd expect to see after a 50 percent price hike, and the numbers will probably only get worse. I'd guess a lot of people who bought IT or L&S in the last two weeks just tossed it in the shopping cart without even checking the price. Once they realize they can no longer get two Bauer magazines for the price of one People, a lot of them won't come back.