CBR’s John Mayo exists to make you depressed, if his analysis of December’s Direct Market sales are anything to go by:
In December 2007, there were only 20 advances (items with increases in sales) on the top 300 comics list. That is out of the 191 items with previous issues to compare against. The other 89 items had no previous issue to compare against because the item had no issue number, there was no previous issue, the item was reorder activity or the previous issue didn’t make the top 300 comic list.
The question you should be asking at this point? “Is it normal for the number of advances to be that low?” The answer is no. December 2007 had the fourth lowest number of advances since the final order era began. January 2004 had the lowest number of advances with only 16 items. May 2007 had the highest number of advances with a record setting 76 items. On average, 39 items show an increase each month.
There is also the number of declines (items that went down in sales) to consider. December 2007 had 191 declines. Again, the question to ask is how that compares to the historical data. Out of the 57 months of data, December 2007 had 11th highest number of declines.
The column’s last words? “We’re all doomed.”
Okay, maybe not.
February 11th, 2008 at 1:07 am
But is this so bad? Does the fact that TV shows are axing and new shows premiering every year mean that television is doomed?
Most televisions shows have ratings that decline or (at best) hold steady after their premiere. Shows that decline are axed and replaced with new ones. What’s the problem?