Yes, according to Vanity Fair‘s very informal look at the numbers, having Stephen Colbert as a cover boy results in a Colbert bump in sales.
Should Vanity Fair Put Stephen Colbert on the Cover?
by Matt Pressman
December 16, 2009, 5:01 PM
What otherworldly power does Stephen Colbert wield over magazine editors? It was strange enough when he appeared on the cover of Newsweek back in June (an issue he guest edited)—now he’s on the cover of Sports Illustrated. In 2007 and 2008 he did the GQ-Esquire double-dip, a feat usually accomplished only by such icons of maleness as Robert Downey Jr. and Tom Brady. In the past few years Colbert has also been the cover boy for Rolling Stone, New York, and Wired.
. . .
Actually, yes, Colbert covers sell quite well, according to data from the Audit Bureau of Circulations. He boosted Wired’s newsstand sales by 38 percent, Esquire’s by 17 percent, Newsweek’s by 16 percent (according to unaudited numbers), and GQ’s by 6 percent. New York’s sales of its Colbert-fronted issue were about average, and Rolling Stone has not yet reported the numbers for its August 14, 2009 issue, with Colbert on the cover. (A note on methodology: for weekly magazines, I compared sales of the Colbert issue to average sales for the entire year; for monthlies, whose sales are subject to more seasonal variation, I used the issue from that same month the previous year as a basis for comparison.)
. . .
The VF entry commits the cardinal sin of comparing Jon and Stephen (it does point out that Stephen’s persona lends itself to the cover boy position more naturally), but it’s an interesting collection of data, nonetheless.
Anyhow, I’m not going to argue with numbers favoring more magazine covers with Stephen!
(H/t to Jennie!)
Can’t speak for everyone, but I never buy magazines. And then Stephen will be on the cover of some mag and I’m rushing around to find it. =D I’d say the numbers don’t lie!
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It’s probably obvious to anyone who watches The Daily Show and The Colbert Report why Colbert is a magazine-cover darling while the industry seems to have given up on Stewart.
Ergh. I really dislike articles that HAVE to bash on Jon to make their case for Stephen, though the writer is quite entitled to his opinion. What gets me is that in a few weeks or months’ time Jon’s going to rip a politician or another noteworthy person on his show a new one, and media outlets such as these hark back to the really tired line of “America’s Most Trusted Newsman” and pretend they’ve like what he’s been doing all along. The short-term memory of the media just gets really irritating sometimes.
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“What gets me is that in a few weeks or months’ time Jon’s going to rip a politician or another noteworthy person on his show a new one, and media outlets such as these hark back to the really tired line of “America’s Most Trusted Newsman” and pretend they’ve like what he’s been doing all along. The short-term memory of the media just gets really irritating sometimes.”
AMEN TO THAT!
It IS a cardinal sin to compare these two equally holy saints of comedy. It’s like saying Saint Dominic rocked the astronomy scene while Saint Anthony did squat for stargazers… They’re the saints of totally different things! Of course St. Anthony didn’t help astronomers; that’s not his job! But he did help me find my lost keys way better than Dominic ever did… ;)
That said, I run out to buy magazines if either of them appears on a cover. It’s even better when they’re BOTH on the cover!
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Damn straight.
They are comparing apples and oranges with Jon and Stephen.
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I absolutely agree. They both do very different things despite being in the same sort of trade. It’s really unfair to compare them. I think they’re equally good, I love Jon!
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My guess is, yes! Stephen is so photogenic…who wouldn’t want to pick up a magazine with his adorable picture on the front!?
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I really dislike the VF comparison of Jon and Stephen.
Stephen plays a character, and characters sell better. They also even disprove their Jon v. Stephen argument by saying that Jon hasn’t appeared as cover boy since TCR started. While TDS was still pretty big back then, it was nowhere near the influential status it has now.
VF was out of line on that point.
As for Colbert, yes he sells and probably better than Stewart would because when Jon, Ben Karlin, and Stephen set up the show—they stumbled into such a great idea. Having the idea of the ‘colbert nation’ was quite genius. And no matter what magazine sales are, Jon has the bigger ratings.
Both shows and people are comic gold, and we really should just feel blessed to be able to watch the next generation of the Smothers Brothers. After 9/11 we thought comedy was dead, yet it really just fueled the best political satire we’ve had in ages.
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Excellent points Ali, Caitlin and Roland. *nods approvingly*
As a massive Beatles fan, it’s always irked me when people feel they have to bash on Paul to be a true Lennon fan, and vice verse. So as the Lennon and McCartney of satire so to speak, it drives me nuts when it’s done with Jon and Stephen. Shows a real lack of it-getting.
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I should probably clarify that I’m not cool with the Jon/Stephen comparison either, despite my joy in seeing Stephen on magazine covers (I’m not sure it came out correctly in my post). If the choice is between Stephen and some unnamed cover person, I’m all for Stephen, obviously. If the choice is between Stephen and Jon, I vote for more covers like the Rolling Stone and Entertainment Weekly offerings, where the two of them made me smile like there was no tomorrow.
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No worries ms I. Thanks for the link to the story (and to Jennie for bringing it to attention).
When I read your summary, I got that you agreed with the unfair comparison.
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Totally agree with everyone here on the unjustified comparison of Jon and Stephen, but based on their last amazing shot of Stephen in black (http://www.vanityfair.com/fame/features/2007/10/colbert200710), I would whole-heartedly welcome a Vanity Fair cover of him in the near future!
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No insult intended at all but…
DUH!!
of course sales increase!
U
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I adore magazine covers with either of our guys. But since I have this obsession with Stephen, his are the ones I’ll go out of my way to buy.
On the wall to my right are Entertainment Weekly (Jon and Stephen doing the riff on the New Yorker cover), Stephen’s Spiderman comic book, and the Esquire. They’re all framed w/ blue matting.
Sitting behind me on a table are Newsweek, Rolling Stone, and the Emmy mag. I can’t wait to add SI to my collection.
Hmm, I thought I had Wired too. Now what did I do with it?
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EEEK! I hope that lots of magazines notice that having Stephen will give them a sales boost and that Stephen will be on lots of magazines :P
hahahah
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I don’t really buy a lot of magazines, but I try my best to find one when someone I particularly like or admire is on the cover.
And I agree with the earlier comments re the Jon/Stephen comparison. It shouldn’t be done.
reCAPTCHA: endorsing Achiest
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I do have subscriptions to Entertainment Weekly, Vanity Fair, TIME, and Rolling Stone because I like reading those specific magazines. Plus it makes it easier when someone I do particularly like is on the cover of one of them, ha.
If Stephen is on the cover of a magazine, I will definitely go out of my way to buy it, even if the issues are older (like Esquire or the Rolling Stone with Jon and Stephen). The fact that the Colbert Bump has extended to the magazine industry is awesome.
And I completely agree with the earlier comments about the media comparing Jon and Stephen. For them to say that the magazine industry has “given up” on Jon is just unnecessary. You can’t compare the two of them. They’re both brilliant.
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By the by, at then end of that VF article it shows related articles and links to the October 2007 story VF did on Stephen, “The Man in the Irony Mask.” I highly recommend y’all to read it if you haven’t – it’s a truly great read. :)
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firstly, i hate jon/stephen comparisons because it makes me sad to see someone like stewart more than colbert.
secondly, does anyone know if they sell old colbert mags on ebay or something because i have only been a member of the nation since the summer and i would love to catch up on them?
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It’s funny, because looking up Stephen’s past magazine covers is what I have been doing for the past hour or so hahaha :)
I know you can find some of them on eBay, definitely GQ (May 2007) and Esquire (August 2008) – maybe the Rolling Stone cover with Jon/Stephen. But I haven’t been able to find the Newsweek one on eBay, so I plan on ordering that directly from the Newsweek site. And if you still want to order the Emmy mag from this summer, you can order that on their website as well (there’s a phone number to call and order).
Hope that helps! :D
PS: if anyone knows where I can find the 2006 issue of New York magazine and the 2007 issue of Parade magazine, I would really appreciate it. :)
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i found the newsweek thing on ebay where you can bid on it
http://cgi.ebay.com/Newsweek-magazine-Stephen-Colbert-excellent_W0QQitemZ190358314403QQcmdZViewItemQQptZMagazines?hash=item2c523d5da3
how do you order it from their website though?
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Oh cool, you found it on eBay!
If you want to get the issue without the address stamp on it, I would order it from the site. To order back issues, go here: http://www.zazzle.com/newsweek, and go to view all back issues, where you can find Stephen’s. I actually have a little extra cash this week, so I’m ordering mine right now – all this talk about Stephen and magazine covers has reminded me how much I needed to buy the Newsweek issue. :D
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