Model Railroader Magazine's circulation figures for 2017 are out in the January 2018 issue and indicate that MR took perhaps the most dramatic hit in readership numbers, percentage-wise, during 2017 as I've seen in quite some years. Average readership for the past year dropped to 100,313 (it peaked at 224,000 twenty years back), a nearly 15,000 drop from 2016! At the same time, the year's final issue garnered a reported circulation figure that fell below 100,000 for the first time in perhaps 35 or 40 years! Similarly, during the past year the magazine's Video Plus arm's saw subscription numbers show only weak growth. After nearly 15 years of very weak content MR has attempted to turn itself around and return to the sort of superior modeling material that kept it the hobby's premier publication decade after decade. But after two decades drifting that saw a steadily disappointed and declining readership I fear that this effort, initiated back in 2015-16, may prove to be too little coming too late.
I look back fondly on the era when we all couldn't wait to see the arrival of MR's December issue appear in our mailbox every year. It could always be counted on to be jam-packed with exciting ads for new products, new projects, or modeling techniques, along with often bringing the year's best layout articles and holiday-oriented photos...all crammed into 200+ pages! Boy, do I miss those golden days in the hobby!
CNJ999
I look back fondly on the era when we all couldn't wait to see the arrival of MR's December issue appear in our mailbox every year. It could always be counted on to be jam-packed with exciting ads for new products, new projects, or modeling techniques, along with often bringing the year's best layout articles and holiday-oriented photos...all crammed into 200+ pages! Boy, do I miss those golden days in the hobby!
CNJ999