As for the German sales, it is interesting to note that the German unification was not the only source of the spike in sales. Micky Maus also suddenly sold a lot better in what was West Germany, from 353.000 in the first quarter of 1990 it rose to 436.000 in the third quarter of the year. That is a 24% increase in only half a year! Part of the increase may be related to changes in Micky Maus itself, described here under 1990 - Ein neuanfang.
True, the magazine was retooled in 1990 and upped its editorial content heavily. Still an incredible gain.
I have a few recent issues of Micky Maus (after 2010). I'm wondering, is the succesful Micky Maus of the nineties comparable to these recent issues of Micky Maus in editorial content, or was it rather different?
I made a graph of sales figures expressed as a percentage of population size (so sales/population * 100).
These are the larger countries, seldom rising over 1%.
Notes: The figures for the US are based on Walt Disney's Comics & Stories. For population sizes I only took the country of origin of the Magazine (Germany (and before 1990 West-Germany) for Micky Maus, France for Journal de Mickey etc.)
These are the smaller countries, which until the past few years all sold above 1%. Finland is the absolute master with ca. 6% for most of the time, a feat only Norway managed to replicate briefly during the seventies and eighties.
Note: The Norwegian and Danish figures before 1972 may refer to print run instead of sales.
By the way, only for Finland, Germany and Italy I found sales figures covering a long sequence of years. So does anyone know whether there is an online accessible source of past sales figures or print run for the Disney magazines of other countries? For France, Norway, Sweden and Denmark I found figures for every year from ca. 2000 onwards, but before that only sporadically. It would be interesting to get a more exact idea of how the sales in these countries evolved before 2000.
I have a few recent issues of Micky Maus (after 2010). I'm wondering, is the succesful Micky Maus of the nineties comparable to these recent issues of Micky Maus in editorial content, or was it rather different?
While the layout has undergone many changes, I don't think the content is all that different - there's still jokes, pranks, trivia, quizzes etc. The biggest change is that the plastic toy gimmicks are more elaborate and now come pre-assembled - and they're the main sales pull nowadays, sadly.
I could try and post a few scans from a 1990 magazine next week if I have time.
I could try and post a few scans from a 1990 magazine next week if I have time.
Thanks! I'd be interested in seeing what it looks like. It's hard to believe that editorial changes can almost double the sales per capita, but I can't think of a better explanation, so a magazine that manages such a feat is worth to take a look at
Here is a ranking list of (by my knowledge) all countries with a traditional (Donald/Mickey-oriented) Disney magazine, with sales figures of the main magazine as a percentage of the population size (only the country of origin, so for for instance Germany I didn’t add the populations of Austria and German-speaking Switzerland). Only for Greece I couldn’t find any figures.
1. Finland 3,68% (2015)
2. Iceland 3,43% (2012)
3. Netherlands1,35% (2015)
4. Norway 0,70% (2015)
5. Estonia 0,41% (ca. 2005)
6. Denmark 0,40%(2015)
7. Sweden 0,36%(2015)
8. Lithuania 0,24%(ca. 2015)
9. Italy 0,23%(2014)
Banten 0,21%(ca. 2015) (not a country, but a region of Java in Indonesia)
10. Latvia 0,20% (ca. 2015)
11. France 0,16% (2015)
12. Germany 0,12% (2015)
13. Bulgaria 0,09%(2010)
14. Egypt 0,09% (2005)
15. Czech Republic 0,08%(ca. 2015)
16. Serbia 0,06%(2014)
17. Portugal 0,05% (first half 2015)
18. Poland 0,05%(2015)
19. China 0,02% (ca. 2006)
20. Brazil 0,02%(2014)
21. Indonesia 0,02% (ca. 2015)
22. USA 0,0015%(2016)
Notes
Iceland: this may be based on the number of subscribers, see here, meaning that total sales per capita are even higher.
Estonia: based print run from ca. 2005 and assumption that 80% of print run was sold. Current circulation is probably significantly lower.
Denmark: estimate based on readership and readership/sales ratio in 2014.
Sweden: estimate based on assumption that 80% of print run was sold.
Lithuania: based on assumption that 80% of print run was sold and that info on its website is recent.
Latvia: based on assumption that 80% of print run was sold and that info on its website is recent
Egypt: based only on Egyptian population. In reality a significant percentage of copies is probably sold in other Arabian countries.
Czech Republic: based on assumption that 80% of print run was sold and that info on its website is recent.
Brazil: based on average of the four main monthlies
USA: based on only the direct market sales of the last three issues of WDC in 2016.
So, Finland, Iceland and The Netherlands are now the only countries who are still"ga ga" over Disney comics (over 1% of the entire population)(in their "main weekly book"). But, to be fair, The Scandinavian countries, Germany and Italy and Brazil have many, many different Disney Comics publications. So, it would be better to add up ALL the Disney Books sold in each country each week. In both Germany and France, the weekly "floppy" book has been more oriented towards younger aged children since 2000, or so, and their more sophisticated books ("Picsou Magazine" in France, and "Donald Duck Sonderheeft" in Germany, have been doing better, by comparison). In The Netherlands, "Donald Duck Weekblad" has been going strong, while there have been many special books selling well, in addition.
So, Finland, Iceland and The Netherlands are now the only countries who are still"ga ga" over Disney comics (over 1% of the entire population)(in their "main weekly book"). But, to be fair, The Scandinavian countries, Germany and Italy and Brazil have many, many different Disney Comics publications. So, it would be better to add up ALL the Disney Books sold in each country each week. In both Germany and France, the weekly "floppy" book has been more oriented towards younger aged children since 2000, or so, and their more sophisticated books ("Picsou Magazine" in France, and "Donald Duck Sonderheeft" in Germany, have been doing better, by comparison). In The Netherlands, "Donald Duck Weekblad" has been going strong, while there have been many special books selling well, in addition.
I agree. It's too bad that for many of these other publications no sales figures are available. However, maybe we can get an impression of what they are like, and how they are related to the sales of the main weekly. In the Netherlands, the weekly Donald Duck sold a total of 11.4 million copies in 2015. The other traditional Disney magazines (bi-weeky Donald Duck junior, monthly Donald Duck Extra and bi-monthly Katrien together sold 1.16 million copies. Then there are a a few album series and pocket sized publications. Of these, I'm pretty sure monthly Donald Duck pocket sells the most copies, but I have no figures. However, I'm pretty sure it won't be more than 100.000 per issue, and I think 3 million copies is a safe, maybe even exaggerated, upper bound for the sales of all non-magazine Disney comics in the Netherlands together. That means that in the Netherlands the weekly Donald Duck represents at least 73% of copies sold. However, the albums and pocket-sized editions are usually pricier than the weekly, so their share in the total amount of money spent on Disney comics will probably be larger.
In France, I think apart from the weekly Le Journal de Mickey the bulk of Disney comics sales if formed by monthly Picsou Magazine,and bi-monthly Super Picsou Géant and Mickey Parade Géant. In 2015 Le Journal De Mickey had a total diffusion 5,393,700 copies, whereas the other three publications mentioned together had a diffusion of 2.103.918 copies, so Le Journal de Mickey represents 71% of the total copies diffused of these four publications. Most of the other Disney publications in France are by Glénat. However, none of these publications was on the ACBD list of publications with highest print run see here, meaning that their print run was lower than 20,000 copies, so their contribution to the total amount of copies of Disney comics sold in France is marginal.
In Germany, the best-selling Disney comic is monthly (13 times a year actually) Lustiges Taschenbuch, representing 2.384.057 copies sold in 2015. Among the magazines Donald Duck Sonderheft follows Micky Maus with 30.000 copies sold per issue, or 360.000 a year. Apart from these, there is a wealth of pocketsized series available in German, although both in frequency and sales figures they can't top Lustiges Taschenbuch. If we generously assume that the other Disney comics together sell as many copies a year as Lustiges Taschenbuch, then the total sales of German Disney comics apart from Micky Maus amounts to ca. 4.8 million copies a year, whereas Micky Maus sold 4.87 million copies a year, thus representing half of the copies sold.
In Italy, weekly Topolino sold a total of 12.208.976 copies in 2007. Monthly Paperino, I Classici di Walt Disney and I Grandi Classici di Walt Disney together sold 1.276.356 copies in 2007, and they are among the best-selling Disney publications apart from Topolino.
I think it is safe to assume that Germany, with it's huge gap between sales per issue of Mickey Maus and Lustiges Taschenbuch, tops the list when it comes to countries where non-main Disney publications represent a large share of total copies sold. So we can conclude that nowhere the main Disney publication represent less than about half of the total copies sold a year. For countries that have monthlies as the main publications (e.g. Brazil and the US) I think the main monthly magazines together can be trusted to respresent at least half of the sales of Disney comics.
When it comes to the money spent on Disney comics, however, Germany's Micky Maus may represent no more than a quarter of the total, because in 2015 the cover price was 3 euro, versus 5,50 for Lustiges Taschenbuch.
"Walt Disney's Comics and Stories whose circulation reached 3,038,000 for the Sept. 1953 issue."
A few more facts about that issue:
52 pages, counting the covers (a Barks cover!)
contents: a Barks 10-pager with Donald, Daisy, Gladstone, and HDL; Li'l Bad Wolf 8-pager; Pluto 6-pager; Little Hiawatha 6-pager; a two-page text story (to comply with US Post Office rules to qualify as a magazine); 3 1-page Mickey Mouse strips from 1950 Sunday newspapers; Grandma Duck 2-pager; 3 pages with reformatted and colorized Donald Duck weekday strips from 6 various days 1950-51; and the 8-page part 2 of a Mickey Mouse serial with Goofy and Pete. [The Barks lead story was always the highlight of WDC then, but Mickey's mystery/adventure serials were quite popular.]
Also available on the newsstands were Donald Duck #31 (Fallberg/Bradbury material, never reprinted in USA); Silly Symphonies #2 (with 12 pages of Mickey as The Sorcerer's Apprentice by Murry); Uncle Scrooge '3'(aka One Shot 495, 36 pages of new Barks including The Horseradish Story); and any unsold bi-monthly copies of Mickey Mouse #32 from August, and some even older occasional titles on some stands such as the Duck Album (One Shot 492 with Bradbury/Hubbard/Murry/Strobl material never reprinted in USA).
A great time to be a Disney comics fan. Many, many mail subscribers to WDC&S. And great newsstand availability of the bi-monthly Donald Duck, bi-monthly Mickey Mouse, and the various One Shots, specials, Giants, etc.
"Walt Disney's Comics and Stories, whose first issue was dated October 1940 and by the mid-1950s was the best selling comic book in America with a circulation hovering around three million a month (with the highest level reached being 3,038,000 for the Sept. 1953 issue)."
Recalling a time when Disney comics could sell more than 3 million copies per issue makes it more sad to notice how poorly they sell today in the country that created them. A few figures I found:
April 2015 Uncle Scrooge #1 (405): 19,922 copies
May 2015 Donald Duck #1 (368): 19,945 copies Uncle Scrooge #2 (406): 14,366 copies
June 2015 Mickey Mouse #1 (310): 24,299 copies Donald Duck #2 (369): 13,226 copies Uncle Scrooge #3 (407): 12,397 copies
etc.
Not the IDW is to blame, of course. Instead, it's their merit if Disney comics are still published in the USA at all, given that IDW ended the hiatus between 2011 and 2015.
I’m sure the sales figures for any comics in the US in 2020 were pretty dismal, especially with Diamond Distribution’s shutdown during the pandemic’s early days.
Post by luckygladstone on Aug 21, 2021 13:44:33 GMT
It's sad how much Disney comics have fallen in popularity, even in Italy. In 1993, one single issue of Topolino sold just over 1 million copies (it was the peak year for Topolino). Today, I think they're lucky if a single issue sells 30k.
It's sad how much Disney comics have fallen in popularity, even in Italy. In 1993, one single issue of Topolino sold just over 1 million copies (it was the peak year for Topolino). Today, I think they're lucky if a single issue sells 30k.
