What’s The Frequency, Kenneth? Reconsidering Newsstand Cadence

In 1994 R.E.M. wrote a song about this non sequitur that was repeated by a disturbed man as he beat TV news anchor Dan Rather on the streets of New York City. The story goes that the man thought television networks were sending signals into his brain and was imploring Rather to tell him what frequency the networks were using so he could block it.

Many people in the magazine business are frantically asking themselves a similar question: What’s the appropriate frequency to maintain — or better boost — the revenue of newsstand magazines? And how should we reconsider frequency in the context of new consumer behaviors.

Here we’ll look at how some consumer behaviors are reshaping magazine frequency and how this might actually play into publishers favor.

Frequency