X-Message-Number: 4220
Date: 16 Apr 95 16:03:27 EDT
From: Jim Davidson <>
Subject: Omni Magazine

Last I checked, Omni has a circulation of around 900,000 subscribers and
newsstand readers.  With issues passed among family members and friends, that
circulation figure is usually at least doubled to define "readership."  Thus, a

well-written article on cryonics (or any topic) in Omni would be seen by about 2
million people, maybe more.  The same is true of Discover, Popular Science, and
Forbes as well as many other magazines.

National Geographic claimed a readership of 10 million last I heard, and
Scientific American a readership of about 400,000.  I don't have the figures
handy, so I can't say whether these numbers were claimed subscribers/newsstand
sales, or the usual multiple of those figures.

The point is that when dealing with very large circulation magazines, the
marketing statistics of large numbers becomes important.  Advertising budgets
are predicated on the idea that a certain number of impressions per reader or
viewer (or listener in the case of radio) will generate a certain number of
sales.

For our purposes, a figure of around 1.5% to 2% is reasonable as representing

the percentage of all readers who would take an interest in following up to find
more information.  The figure is actually better for news articles than for
advertisements, but lets use the lower number and see where that leads.


Assuming an article in Omni is seen by 2 million people, about 30,000 people can
be expected to seek additional information.  From my understanding of the
cryonics movement, on the order of 1,000 people are presently signed up with

various organizations in the US.  On the order of 10,000 people are currently in

contact with a cryonics organization and receiving information.  (Note that I do
not use the phrase  "on the close order of...")  So with 30,000 people getting

interested, we can say that an article in Omni or any magazine with a comparable
circulation would be a significant thing for the cryonics movement.

If we further assume that 2% of those seeking additional information will sign
up within the subsequent 2 years (which may be high, but is an interesting
statistic to evaluate), then another 600 sign-ups can be expected.  That

represents a great deal of money to the cryonics organizations involved.  Sounds
like at least a few people should spend at least some of their time turning
their writing skills toward generating such articles.  With Omni paying around
$800 for 1,500 words last I heard, both the author and the cryonics groups that
provide data should benefit immensely.  (BTW, Omni is going quarterly according
to a rumor I've heard, so they seem to be using articles in-hand for the next
few issues...but that will change.)


If you haven't noticed, my hand is up whenever volunteers are sought for writing
such articles.

Jim


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