AARP Magazine’s Circulation of 23 Million Makes It Largest in US

Photo of Douglas A. McIntyre
By Douglas A. McIntyre Updated Published
This post may contain links from our sponsors and affiliates, and Flywheel Publishing may receive compensation for actions taken through them.
AARP Magazine’s Circulation of 23 Million Makes It Largest in US

© Thinkstock

AARP has about 40 million members. So, it should not be a surprise that its magazine is the largest in the America as counted by circulation, instead of one from huge publishers like Hearst or Time, Inc. (NYSE: TIME). AARP: The Magazine has a circulation of 23.7 million, and the AARP Bulletin has a circulation of 23.5 million

By means of contrast, the largest traditional paid circulation magazine is Meredith Corp.’s (NYSE: MDP) Better Homes and Gardens.

The AARP magazine is part of the promotion for people who join the organization, so it is not fair to compare it to commercial magazines put out by traditional publishers. An annual membership to AARP costs $16. The magazine is part of a large army of benefits the organization offers from free donuts at Dunkin’ Donuts to savings on AT&T wireless bills to dental insurance.

The primary aim of the AARP magazine is to cheer lead about the great life of older (and slightly less old) people. Sharon Stone, Alfre Woodard and Jane Fonda are defying age as well or better than young actresses.

[nativounit]

Some other features:

Defy Age-Old Myths: Meet 25 people of all ages who are demonstrating that age does not define us

Also:

Country music star Kenny Rogers is set to end his performance career after this last tour.

Also:

Mr. Warmth, 90, stood up to Sinatra, embraced his inner pirate and won the heart of his one true love

Being old is the new young, or young the new old. Either way, AARP has fashioned big publishing as part of its business model with photo essays, videos, how-to features, celebrities. People magazine and Seventeen magazine combined

[wallst_email_signup]

Photo of Douglas A. McIntyre
About the Author Douglas A. McIntyre →

Douglas A. McIntyre is the co-founder, chief executive officer and editor in chief of 24/7 Wall St. and 24/7 Tempo. He has held these jobs since 2006.

McIntyre has written thousands of articles for 24/7 Wall St. He is an expert on corporate finance, the automotive industry, media companies and international finance. He has edited articles on national demographics, sports, personal income and travel.

His work has been quoted or mentioned in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Los Angeles Times, The Washington Post, NBC News, Time, The New Yorker, HuffPost USA Today, Business Insider, Yahoo, AOL, MarketWatch, The Atlantic, Bloomberg, New York Post, Chicago Tribune, Forbes, The Guardian and many other major publications. McIntyre has been a guest on CNBC, the BBC and television and radio stations across the country.

A magna cum laude graduate of Harvard College, McIntyre also was president of The Harvard Advocate. Founded in 1866, the Advocate is the oldest college publication in the United States.

TheStreet.com, Comps.com and Edgar Online are some of the public companies for which McIntyre served on the board of directors. He was a Vicinity Corporation board member when the company was sold to Microsoft in 2002. He served on the audit committees of some of these companies.

McIntyre has been the CEO of FutureSource, a provider of trading terminals and news to commodities and futures traders. He was president of Switchboard, the online phone directory company. He served as chairman and CEO of On2 Technologies, the video compression company that provided video compression software for Adobe’s Flash. Google bought On2 in 2009.

Featured Reads

Our top personal finance-related articles today. Your wallet will thank you later.

Continue Reading

Top Gaining Stocks

CBOE Vol: 1,568,143
PSKY Vol: 12,285,993
STX Vol: 7,378,346
ORCL Vol: 26,317,675
DDOG Vol: 6,247,779

Top Losing Stocks

LKQ
LKQ Vol: 4,367,433
CLX Vol: 13,260,523
SYK Vol: 4,519,455
MHK Vol: 1,859,865
AMGN Vol: 3,818,618