Distribution Research 2: ESPN the Magazine

ESPN the Magazine is a sports magazine that covers major professional sports. The main sports covered include Major League Baseball, National Basketball Association, National Football League, National Hockey League, college basketball, and college football. The magazine typically takes a more lighthearted and humorous approach to sporting news compared with competitors such as Sports Illustrated and, previously, the Sporting News. The traditional distribution model for this magazine was through subscriptions. In 2015, the subscriptions of ESPN Magazine mad for 99.7% of its distribution. Because this method proved so useful for this sports magazine, I would use it for my distribution as well. ESPN publishes 24 times a year and is mostly mailed to a subscriber base of over 1.6 million people, with some sales racks as well. The sales racks may provide some income for people who prefer to receive the magazine whenever they please, rather than getting it twice a month. These methods will be helpful when deciding how I will circulate my magazine.