Number Crunch: Giveaway Circ to the Rescue

Have you picked up copy of People or National Geographic in a waiting room lately? If so, the magazine industry thanks you for helping it survive -- or at least helping it maintain its present state of denial.

Circulation numbers for the first half of 2008 are out, and, as expected, they show a major decrease in single-copy (ie. newsstand) sales. All told, the 532 titles reporting to the Audit Bureau of Circulations sold about 3 million fewer copies this year than last, a 6.3 percent decline. Meanwhile, subscription sales were basically flat year-over-year.

That's where those waiting-room copies come in. Industry-wide, "verified" subscriptions -- meaning public-place copies, or those given away by a third-party partner -- were up 15.8 percent in 2008, totaling more than 15.6 million, according to an ABC analysis.

In other words, the less desire consumers show for magazines, the more eager publishers become to give them away.