Game Informer selling like hot coffee. Or is it?
You’ve seen Game Informer magazine, right? The one stacked high by the register at every GameStop?
Reports online have that magazine ranked among the top 12 U.S. consumer magazines in terms of circulation this year, just above such titles as TV Guide and Playboy yet just below People.
Of course, devoted gamers don’t have time for either TV or people, and who needs Playboy when online porn is just a mouse-click away?
The reports are based on findings by New Jersey-based media monitor BurrellesLuce.
Topping the list: AARP Bulletin, with more than 24 million regular readers.
But there’s something odd about the findings. While Game Informer seems to be doing very well in 2009, it wasn’t even on BurrellesLuce’s radar in 2008, according to that year’s circulation report.
Consider: The No. 11 publication on the list, People, went to 3,691,819 from 3,618,718 between 2008 and 2009. Meanwhile, Game Informer, which is listed at No. 12 in 2009 with 3,517,598, doesn’t appear anywhere in BurrellesLuce’s top 25 for 2008.
An oversight on BurrellesLuce’s part? Maybe. A stunning surge by Game Informer? Possibly, considering gaming’s growth the past year. But why would a print magazine suddenly, inexplicably do so well among an audience that prefers online media?
Fear not, for Game Guy’s on the case.
As an employee of BurrellesLuce, your post naturally piqued my interest. When BurrellesLuce put out the previous “Top Media” lists late last year, I too noted the growing popularity of gaming titles in my blog post on BurrellesLuce Fresh Ideas: http://www.burrellesluce.com/freshideas/?p=124
I would love your take. To start your quest, it may help to know that the BurrellesLuce magazine circulation numbers are based on figures from the Audit Bureau of Circulations (ABC). The title first appeared in our ABC data in June of 2008, and first made our Top Media list late last year. (I can send you that pdf of if you’d like - it’s not yet live in our archive. Please let me know.)