isubscribe, Australia’s no.1 magazine subscription retailer, experienced over 100% increase in subscription sales for April after a 29% uplift in March 2020.
Magazine categories experiencing the strongest growth include home and garden, kids, lifestyle and health and wellbeing magazines.
Hunter Drinan, Managing Director, isubscribe said, "We’ve seen a massive 60-150% increase in sales across those categories for March and April.
“The well-known brands still dominate, such as Better Homes and Gardens (up 200% in April), Gardening Australia (300%) and National Geographic Kids (200%) magazine but the upward trend is not just limited to the big names. We’re seeing strong uplift across the board which is what’s most pleasing given the continuous pressure the print publishing industry is under to perform.
“A great example is our puzzle magazine category. While starting from a lower base than the major categories, it's experienced an almost 300% increase in total sales for March and an over 1000% increase for April."
“Australasian Beekeeper magazine’s subscription sales volume is up over 250% year to date (YTD).
“It’s been a strong end to the first quarter and start of the second due to the dramatic changes in community and consumer behaviour." said Drinan "Together with additional media spend, particularly TV, there’s greater awareness of our products at a time when customers are wanting to keep their minds and bodies engaged.
"Print magazines are still a much loved source of information and inspiration.
Working from home and homeschooling also means more screen time in the house. People are seeking more traditional, 'offline' forms of entertainment.
“We've actually seen this trend building in recent years, particularly in relation to kids magazines. Big players are coming into the market to create educational, fun magazine products for kids and teens. National Geographic launched National Geographic Kids in 2016 and it’s been the number one title across our business for over two years.” said Drinan.
While print is still king, digital subscriptions, typically a much smaller proportion of the overall magazine subscription market, have also experienced a huge uplift in recent months. Total digital subscriptions have jumped 134% in volume for March and over 400% in April. Health and home and garden titles are experiencing the strongest growth. Particularly, Women’s Health magazine, which prior to having its publication paused, experienced a just under a 2000% and 4000% increase in digital subscription sales for March and April respectively.