US print magazine launches bounced back in 2021
Bitcoin Magazine, Black Cannabis and Out Traveler are just three of the 122 new print magazines launched in the US in 2021 highlighting once again the resilience of the format.
According to US print magazine authority Samir Husni the growth in the print sector (there have been double the number of launches in 2021 as there were in 2020) is largely in niches and is driven by titles that are low frequency, quarterly or bi-monthly.
Husni, who has been tracking magazine launches for many years, acknowledges that the numbers pale in comparison with the early days of the internet in 2004 where the industry saw 473 new titles.
Commenting on the resurgence Husni argues “It’s showing that people are sick and tired of the virtual life — print magazines are something to hold, something to feel close to. There’s nothing closer in media than owning and feeling a paper magazine in your hands.”
Husni also pinpointed three titles that he believes are the launch, relaunch and reinvention of the year. He named Grazia USA as the launch of the year. The magazine debuted in print in September with a 400-page debut edition
Bitcoin Magazine is the relaunch of the year, while the reinvention of the year is Scout Life, formerly known as Boy’s Life.
Husni says of the launches that many are mostly distributed in bookstores and boutique locations. “The new print magazines are becoming more like a collector’s product,” Husni said. “They’re the only thing left in media that’s not disposable. We used to say that about newspapers. There’s nothing more disposable than digital media.”
Husni has also compiled a list of the 21 most notable launches and relaunches of 2021
- Adventure Rider (Quarterly)
- Beta (Quarterly)
- Bitcoin (Mr. Magazine’s Relaunch of the Year) (Quarterly)
- Black Cannabis (Quarterly)
- Brooklyn (relaunch) (Quarterly)
- Bully (Bimonthly)
- Classic Easyriders (relaunch) (Monthly)
- Crankshaft (Quarterly)
- Curious Society (Quarterly)
- Delish (Quarterly)
- Drew (Quarterly)
- Engage 4×4 (Monthly)
- Grazia USA (Mr. Magazine’s Launch of the Year) (Quarterly)
- Hope is Now (first issue on newsstands) (Bimonthly)
- In Pickleball (Quarterly so far)
- Kindling (Quarterly)
- Link2Us (Bimonthly)
- Mother Tongue (Quarterly)
- Ms. Heel (Bimonthly)
- O Quarterly (Quarterly)
- Out Traveler (relaunch) (Quarterly)
- People Royals (Quarterly)
- Racewknd (Quarterly)
- Rue (Quarterly)
- Santa Fe (Quarterly)
- Scout Life (Mr. Magazine’s Reinvention of the Year. Formerly Boys’ Life) (Monthly)
