Periodical Publishers NAICS 513120

May 13, 2025 - Revenue Increases

• US periodical publishers generated an estimated $26.01 billion in revenue in 2021, up from $24.03 billion a year earlier, according to the US Census Bureau. The 2021 estimate is the highest annual aggregate revenue of US periodical publishers since 2019. Printing services provided for other firms and sales or licensing of rights to contend decreased during the period.
• Academic journal price increases may hinder of future research, according to The Michigan Daily. Many researchers rely on published articles to guide their studies, and increasing journal prices may limit access to those articles. Chloe Brookes, a research assistant for three social psychology labs, notes that increasing journal costs have the potential to encourage homogeneous ideas in academia. “Academic journals offer context for your area of interest and help focus research questions, not to mention peer-reviewed reliable information,” Brookes said. “Academic journals, rightfully so, are criticized for their shortcomings involving representation and in their lack of accessibility. Rising costs of these journals will only exacerbate this issue.”

• Periodical publishers are advocating for data-driven partnerships with supermarkets to increase sales, according to Supermarket News. "We need to coordinate our databases with databases of the retailer to promote directly to consumers to come into particular stores to buy magazines," said Efrem "Skip" Zimbalist, chairman and chief executive officer of Active Interest Media. This could be done partly by "embracing the ability of smartphones to use location abilities to message consumers while they’re in the stores," Zimbalist added. "We could tell consumers about a new issue of a magazine, with a new recipe on the cover, and then send them a coupon." Partnerships that leverage both magazine industry databases and retailer loyalty programs have big potential, according to Bob Sauerberg, president of Condé Nast.
• Periodical publishing industry employment increased slightly and average wages for nonsupervisory employees decreased slightly during the first three months of 2025, according to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS). Periodical publishers increased prices moderately during the first nine months of 2024 before decreasing them through the remainder of the year, according to the BLS. Periodical publisher sales are forecast to decrease at a 1.25% compounded annual rate from 2025 to 2029, slower than the growth of the overall economy, according to Inforum and the Interindustry Economic Research Fund, Inc.