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RE: How is that link evidence for pay for play? n.t.

> There are lots of strategies used for choosing the cover photo. Probably
> the most common is whatever will sell the most magazines on the newsstand...

Exactly the case. The cover is an engine to sell magazines by grabbing the
passer-by's attention. (I read that the purchase impulse on the newsstand
takes just a few seconds, so subtlety is out of the question.) Though their
overall circulation is around one third that of Stereophile, The Absolute
Sound outsells Stereophile on newsstands, which I ascribe to their better
paper quality, hence better "feel."

Old publishing maxim: "The better the paper, the smaller the circulation."

> Just look at their magazine and tell me how many non-advertisers receive
> reviews.

The last time I analyzed Stereophile's content and posted the results to the
Asylum, around 47% of published reviews were of products from advertisers.

As about 40% of all audio manufacturers have advertised in Stereophile, a
47% figure does represents a slight bias in favor of advertisers. This is
due, I conjectured, to the fact that manufacturers who meet our rule
regarding the minimum number of dealers will be more likely to be
successful enough to advertise in any publication, not just Stereophile.

John Atkinson
Technical Editor, Stereophile


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  • RE: How is that link evidence for pay for play? n.t. - John Atkinson 08/30/1707:45:28 08/30/17 (0)

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