In 2022, 10% fewer newspapers and 3.4% less magazines were published in Russia due to the departure of some publications due to economic and political reasons. In this respect writer “Kommersant” with reference to Russian Book Room data.
The publication noted that the total annual circulation of newspapers in the Russian Federation (the number of copies published by all existing publications) is 3.94 billion copies, which is 9% less than in 2021 (almost 4.32 billion copies). The average one-time circulation of a newspaper decreased by 10% to 14.7 thousand copies. The circulation of the magazines was also decreasing. In 2022, the number of issues decreased by 3.47% to 41.7 thousand.
Experts and market participants agree that the decline in circulation is due to the withdrawal of large participants from the market. In addition, foreign licenses of some journals were revoked. In addition, printing costs increased by 30% on average last year. But the drop in retail sales was offset by paid subscriptions.
Some market participants also noted problems with sales as the number of press kiosks has decreased and some have moved to less crowded locations. Also, the overall problem is affected by geopolitical tensions, increased competition on the internet and difficulties with advertisers. The same problems will continue in 2023.
February 17 Oleg Novikov, head of the “Eksmo-AST” publishing group declarationBook sales in 2022 fell by almost 10%. He described the decline in book sales as understandable, as books are not essential goods.