ROSIE'S CLOSET OUTING HURTS: Mag Bottoms Out

NY POST ^ | 5/22/02 | KEITH J. KELLY

[Liz]

Rosie O'Donnell's eponymous mag hit the circulation skids with its May issue.

May 22, 2002 -- ROSIE O'Donnell's magazine, Rosie, has been plagued by newsstand erosion since early this year, but the numbers fell off the table in May - the issue in which the controversial talk show host came out and confirmed that she was gay.

[bvw]

who = "how"

[bangor505]

I can't stand this woman...Grossie McDonald's. She says that guns are bad, but her bodyguards have them (usual hypocrisy). Oh yeah...it's OK to be gay and raise children in said household, but guns are bad!

[mewzilla]

Don't know. Never read the mag. And from what I hear about K-Mart's woes, Rosie's gunstance was the least of them. But why buy ad space in a mag that nobody's reading?

[Tennessee_Bob]

Maybe it's just a crappy magazine.

[BADJOE]

I am going on what BobJ tells me. He does an analysis on the unigue hits/day. According to him our readership has always been about five + times our registration.

[Saturnalia]

"Readership around a half million" .... that's terrific, but who do you figure that?

Easy. He just uses tried and true statistical methods to approximate the number of readers vs. number of page views.
In short, he made it up :D

[William Terrell]

Sources say that newsstand sales for the Gruner + Jahr-owned title bottomed out in the 200,000-to-235,000 range for the May issue

I think they are lying about this circulation report. I believe it's 'way lower than this. Why? Rosie's past history of deceit and hypocrisy.

[bvw]

By the similar handles (the "B" in combo with the "J") I get you and BobJ confused ... I just remembered that one of you was monitoring this kind of thing. Thanks for setting me straight.

[smiley]

This is a message to Hollywood! We DON'T care about your lifestyle so QUIT shoving it down our throats.

[A Vast RightWing Conspirator]

My wife seems to be getting the mag for free - she never asked for it and she never paid anything to get it. The label indicates that her 'subscribtion' expires sometimes in '03. I noticed it a few days ago while cleaning my parrot cage. It was used to what you could call parrot 'toilet paper'.

[Rodney King]

LOL. Just like Ellen Degenerate. Coming out to boost ratings/circulation always has the opposite affect.

Personally, I would love to know how fast ratings for the last episode of survivor dropped off right after the winner was announced and then that fat hippo started flabbing her gaping maw.

[Cuttnhorse]

I noticed it a few days ago while cleaning my parrot cage. It was used to what you could call parrot 'toilet paper'.

LOL!! Haa Haa, Good one!

[PBRSTREETGANG]

I think it has less to do with her "coming out" and more to do with the fact that, when she is out, she resembles Meatloaf more and more each day.

[lavrenti]

They are not lying about their numbers, however I will say that circulation figures are more complicated than just "copies sold". Judging by these figures I can say that the actual paid circulation is lower than the number posted.

Considering expenses, advertising rates and newsstand sales, dropping to 150,000 is a killer. A wise executive should pronouce this book dead if these figures remain for the next several months.

Then, there is the little matter of the title it replaced, McCalls. G + J ran up a debt on that title which for practical purposes applies to this mag. All this book is, is McCalls with Rosie's name attached. So, to conclude, this book is saying bye-bye.

[bvw]

Is McCall's still published, or is "Rosie" the newer name of it?

[antidisestablishment]

The average readership of a national magazine is 750,000, so 200K is not even close to break even. Average costs of a major launch run in the 5-7 million range and break even is 3-5 years. Plus, magazines make their money on the second and third year customers, so losing a large percentage of your subscription base actually costs twice the net loss.

Of course, newsstand sales are probably the largest part of Rosie's market, so the immediate decline reflects a direct relationship with her outing. Another one bites the rug--oops, I mean dust.

[bvw]

Thanks for the info. Non-major-metro Daily papers run about 30K, no? What about niche magazines?

[mc5cents]

LOL. Just like Ellen Degenerate. Coming out to boost ratings/circulation always has the opposite affect.

Could that be because they constantly overestimate the number of homos in the general population?

[yendu bwam]

Rosie is someone who thinks she has a good heart. But I am deeply offended by her pushing homosexual adoption on us - especially by the idea that the desires of homosexuals take precedence over the need of each child to have a mother and father. When Rosie's 'girlfriend' gets pregnant with some guy's sperm, what are they going to say to that child? - Well, we just didn't think you deserved to have a father? And what is the sperm donor going to say? Well, I thought I'd help bring you into this world, but didn't feel you needed a father, and felt just dandy in turning you over to two strangers to be raised? It seems to me, it is the two humans (one male and one female) who bring a child into the world who should raise and love that (their) child. I'm tired of being told we're intolerant when we object to children being treated like chattel.

[BibChr]

Hey now, yendu, you know you're not supposed to be thinking those thoughts. In fact, you're not really supposed to be thinking. You're just supposed to be feeling warm and affirming and accepting!

Dan