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NEWS: Shonen Jump Dips Below 1.5 Million in Print Circulation




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taishou*



Joined: 02 Nov 2016
Posts: 129
PostPosted: Mon Feb 22, 2021 2:19 pm Reply with quote
It's sad to see even the larger print magazines decline. I love print magazines and I'll be sad to see them go.
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Shay Guy



Joined: 03 Jul 2009
Posts: 2093
PostPosted: Mon Feb 22, 2021 3:37 pm Reply with quote
And at the same time, Jump+ is seeing hits like Kaiju No. 8 and Spy x Family, along with becoming the new home of Chainsaw Man. Even over in Young Jump, Oshi no Ko has become more popular than pretty much any new WSJ series other than Burn the Witch, which isn't a regular series.

I'm not sure anything in WSJ younger than Jujutsu Kaisen has the potential to blow up the way it did. And of course Kimetsu is still a license to print money, but with the manga over, it's not going to be in two-million-copies-a-week territory anymore, and it's not going to sell the magazine. So in the long run... how relevant is WSJ going to be, anyway?
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Minos_Kurumada



Joined: 04 Nov 2015
Posts: 983
PostPosted: Mon Feb 22, 2021 4:50 pm Reply with quote
Well, we are moving to digital, for better or worse.
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Ushio



Joined: 31 Jul 2005
Posts: 630
PostPosted: Mon Feb 22, 2021 6:54 pm Reply with quote
Shay Guy wrote:
And at the same time, Jump+ is seeing hits like Kaiju No. 8 and Spy x Family, along with becoming the new home of Chainsaw Man. Even over in Young Jump, Oshi no Ko has become more popular than pretty much any new WSJ series other than Burn the Witch, which isn't a regular series.

I'm not sure anything in WSJ younger than Jujutsu Kaisen has the potential to blow up the way it did. And of course Kimetsu is still a license to print money, but with the manga over, it's not going to be in two-million-copies-a-week territory anymore, and it's not going to sell the magazine. So in the long run... how relevant is WSJ going to be, anyway?



It's a very cheap (for the consumer) way to try manga and as long as the circulation is large enough to break even it will continue.

One advantage it has is that it's highly curated with justification something the internet doesn't have.

It's tankobon sales and licencing for anime, games and general merchandise that makes the real money.

Besides Weekly Shonen Magazine and Weekly Shonen Sunday have seen circulation drop significantly below 1 million copies a week and still continue.
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BrainBlow



Joined: 22 Apr 2013
Posts: 364
PostPosted: Mon Feb 22, 2021 8:39 pm Reply with quote
It's to be expected with the increased digitization, which the chief editor has talked about before.

To my knowledge WSJ is also printed on cheap, low quality paper, so it's hardly surprising that people migrate to the higher quality formay.
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Donkey-er



Joined: 02 Oct 2020
Posts: 99
PostPosted: Tue Feb 23, 2021 5:54 am Reply with quote
BrainBlow wrote:
It's to be expected with the increased digitization, which the chief editor has talked about before.

To my knowledge WSJ is also printed on cheap, low quality paper, so it's hardly surprising that people migrate to the higher quality formay.


Yeah, I agree, I bought an old WSJ once just to see what it was like and the quality of the print was really low. The ads are usually printed on better paper and in color (I assume the people placing the ads pay for the extra quality). So I fully understand people wanting higher quality. Personally, I read 99% of my manga in printed tankobon form and since that means I have to wait a while for the English version to come out I have never really been bothered by not getting a new chapter every week. I do think there is a big future in releasing manga digitally with services like SJ+ and Manga+. Releasing the tankobon afterward for the fans that want to have it in print or don't want to read it digitally at all.

It's sad to see this decline, but if you think about it, it's just progress. It helps the environment to have everything digital or at least print stuff for the ages and not to be disposed of after a week.
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DerekL1963
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Joined: 14 Jan 2015
Posts: 1112
Location: Puget Sound
PostPosted: Wed Jul 28, 2021 1:21 pm Reply with quote
Minos_Kurumada wrote:
Well, we are moving to digital, for better or worse.


Yeah, that's the real question... How are the digital numbers?

That being said, going digital is problematic in the long term - it's a lot harder to capture the casual browser. Especially if you need a bespoke app, a new account, etc... etc...
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