MCN sales are down again

18th February 2016

Motorcycle News | Bauer | Mortons Media Group

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It was once flogging anything up to around 200,000 copies per week, but that was then and this is now.

Currently, Motorcycle News, owned by German firm Bauer Media, has seen another disappointing fall in print sales, this time by 4.8 percent. That means its average weekly numbers are just 72,607 paper copies, and falling. But MCN's digital sales were better and rose to 1,896 (up 27.8 percent).

The information comes via the Audit Bureau of Circulation (ABC) which has just published its latest figures.

The data also reveals that Bauer's Bike magazine, which was once selling 80,000 - 90,000 copies plus per month has seen its readership plummet with a 2015 average of just 34,387 monthly copies. That's a 7.1 percent drop. As a consequence, Bike is no longer "Britain's best selling motorcycle magazine". Instead, Classic Bike has taken first place on the podium (see further down this story).

Recently, Bike was re-launched in an effort to plug the leak. But the downward trend seems relentless. However, to mitigate matters, Bike's digital sales were up 41.9% to 2,697 subscribers which is a decent enough percentage rise, but still represents low sales.

Meanwhile, Classic Bike magazine (also Bauer) is barely holding its own at an average of 37,135 copies per month. It's been hovering around this number for years. But a decade or so ago, Classic Bike was selling around 45,000 per month.

Ride magazine (Bauer) is currently selling an average of 32,866 per month, up 2 percent, with digital readership at 1,772.

Performance Bikes (Bauer) is currently selling just 15,674 copies per month on average, which is up slightly by 0.9 percent. The magazine's digital sales are 1,190.

There are no figures for any of empire-building Mortons Media's titles (The Classic Motorcycle, Classic Mechanics, Classic Bike Guide, Old Bike Mart, Motorcycle Monthly). That's because the firm steadfastly refuses to have its circulation independently audited. Therefore, the company can and does give would-be advertisers whatever numbers it feels are appropriate.

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