The rich are cheap. And old. Those are just a couple of conclusions to draw from our review of magazine reading in households making $250K or more. How else to explain the presence of Costco Connection and AARP: The Magazine among the most read titles?
When it comes to favorite magazines, however, it looks like the wealthy are just as aspirational if overscheduled as the rest of us, putting The New Yorker at the top of their personal Hot List, but (since it doesn’t rank high on the percentage reading rankings) never finishing the articles. Only Consumer Reports and National Geographic managed to crack all three of our top 10 lists.
Data for the review were provided by GfK MRI from its Fall 2010 Survey of the American Consumer. They covered 860 households with income of $250k or more and excluded publications with less than 50 readers.
| Title | % saying they read it |
|---|---|
| People | 26 |
| The Costco Connection | 20 |
| National Geographic | 17 |
| Better Homes & Gardens | 17 |
| Time | 16 |
| AARP The Magazine | 15 |
| Consumer Reports | 12 |
| Sports Illustrated | 11 |
| In Style | 11 |
| Readers Digest | 10 |
| Source: GfK MRI Survey of the American Consumer, Fall 2010 |
| Title | % Saying it is one of their favorites |
|---|---|
| The New Yorker | 57 |
| Wine Spectator | 48 |
| National Geographic | 45 |
| The Economist | 44 |
| Architectural Digest | 39 |
| Southern Living | 38 |
| Conde Nast Traveller | 38 |
| Bon Appetit | 37 |
| GQ | 34 |
| Consumer Reports | 31 |
| Source: GfK MRI Survey of the American Consumer, Fall 2010 | Note: Total number of readers is above 50 for each title but the numbers saying it was a favorite are less than 50 in many cases. |
| Title | Minutes spent with Average Issue |
|---|---|
| Forbes | 59 |
| The New Yorker | 58 |
| The Economist | 57 |
| Money | 55 |
| Golf Digest | 55 |
| Fortune(1) | 52 |
| Consumer Reports | 51 |
| Men's Health | 50 |
| National Geographic | 50 |
| Bloomberg Businessweek (2) | 49 |
| Source: GfK MRI Survey of the American Consumer, Fall 2010 | (1) Now triweekly, measured as biweekly in 1st half of survey. (2) Measured as Businessweek |
