Q2 Publishing Sales Rose 27.6% at IDW (publishersweekly.com)

Popular Science continued to expand its considerable audience reach in June, with an average monthly audience growth of 38% and an increase in unique visitors to PopSci.com of 32% year over year for June. This milestone comes on the heels of Popular Science’s March/April “Water” issue’s star performance on newsstands at 38.3% year over year. The magazine brand’s total audience grew 31.5% year over year, and ranks third among the top ten magazine brands (source: MPA). “I’m extremely proud of the editorial team for all their hard work, which isn’t going unnoticed by Popular Science’s readers,” says Gregory Gatto, Senior Vice President, Managing Director, Bonnier Corporation. “The team has really concentrated on delivering print, digital and social products that are smart, timely, and unique.” Click Read More below for more of the story.

This year’s Book Industry Study Group annual meeting, held virtually April 23, focused on issues around book publishing’s impact on the environment, the continuing effect of the pandemic on the supply chain, and the industry’s response to both. The program opened with a keynote by Sheri Aldis, chief of publishing at the United Nations, which focused on the need for “global cooperation” to address sustainability and on the role of the United Nation’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDG), a set of 17 interconnected objectives based around science, economic development, and social well-being considered necessary to create a decent standard of life. Among the SDGs are (1) no poverty, (2) zero hunger, (4) quality education, (5) gender equality, (7) affordable and clean energy, and (13) climate action.

With its trade segment posting a strong first half of the year and its education group turning in a solid second half, Scholastic reported a 4% increase in revenue in the fiscal year ended May 31, over fiscal 2016. Operating income, excluding one-time items, rose 17%. Revenue in the year was $1.74 billion, while operating income rose to $109.1 million, up from $93.4 million in fiscal 2016. Net income increased 29.1% to $52.3 million.