Actually OL and F&S have dropped considerably in recent years.
When I went to work as a staffer for F&S in 1987 paid circulation was close to 3 million. It's down to around a million now. Part of this is due to competition from speciality magazines, but part of it is deliberate--or so they claim:
Dropping circulation allows them to charge less for ads. This might seem stupid, but only a few companies can afford to pay the ad rates charged by the really large-circulation magazines. Mostly these are automotive, liquor and tobacco firms. By dropping circulation and ad rates, F&S makes their ads affordable to more "endemic" advertising, meaning guns, fishing tackle, etc.
One of the things many large magazines have worried about for years is the possible outlawing of advertising for alcoholic beverages and, particularly, tobacco products.
MD
