289 U.S. magazines reported that they’d sold 7.9 million digital replica editions in the last six months of 2012. That’s 2.4 percent of total circulation — up from less than 1 percent in the second half of 2011, and up from 1.7 percent in the first six months of this year. (AAM’s definition of a digital replica is that it contains “the same editorial and photojournalism as the national print edition,” though that material can be arranged differently on a tablet; nearly all digital magazines fall into this category.)

The growth looks more impressive on an individual title level, where some magazines made huge gains in digital copies: Game Informer, already by far the top magazine by digital circulation, increased that figure by 89 percent, while Cosmopolitan upped its digital circulation by nearly 40 percent in the second half of the year. Two Reader’s Digest titles – Reader’s Digest and Taste of Home — saw triple-digit-percentage growth of their digital editions, both entering the top 10 for the first time. The growth isn’t all paid: Reader’s Digest, for example, is offering print subscribers a free six-month iPad subscription. But Hearst sells digital and print subscriptions separately.

Here are the top 25 U.S. consumer magazines by digital circulation as of December 31, 2012, and how much that circulation grew (or shrank) over the first six months of the year. The Alliance for Audited Media cautions that these are preliminary figures, subject to audit.

1. Game Informer (GameStop), digital circulation: 2,305,816 (+89% over first half of 2012)
   
2. Maxim (Alpha Media Group): 259,529 (-8.9%)
3. Cosmopolitan (Hearst): 254,751 (+37.2%)
4. National Geographic (National Geographic): 160,077 (+18.9%)
5. Poder Hispanic (Televisa): 149,838 (-12.3%)
6. Reader’s Digest (Reader’s Digest): 147,149 (+248.8%)
7. Taste of Home (Reader’s Digest): 103,961 (+243.9%)
8. Popular Science (Bonnier): 98,389 (+5.8%)
9. ESPN the Magazine (ESPN): 92,197 (+20.4%)
10. OK! (American Media): 88,347 (+86.7%)
11. Parenting (Bonnier): 87,253 (+16.7%)
12. Men’s Health (Rodale): 85,842 (+44.2%)
13. O, the Oprah Magazine (Hearst): 84,632 (+4.2%)
14. Wired (Condé Nast): 84,118 (+22.3%)
15. Us Weekly (Wenner Media): 81,611 (+40.8%)
16. Nylon (Jaclynn B. Jarrett): 77,469 (+2.5%)
17. GQ (Condé Nast): 74,806  (+24.6%)
18. Food Network Magazine (Hearst): 67,727 (+65.1%)
19. Women’s Health (Rodale): 66,555 (+29.5%)
20. Star (American Media): 59,903 (+297%)
21. New Yorker (Condé Nast): 59,471 (+66.7%)
22. Esquire (Condé Nast Hearst): 57,795 (+41.7%)
23. Martha Stewart Living (Time Inc. Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia): 56,068 (+28.7%)
24. Glamour (Condé Nast): 53,794 (+56.8%)
25. Vanity Fair (Condé Nast): 53,735 (+47.6%)

Print subscribers can read the iPad edition of the magazine for free for six months. Reader’s Digest will also continue to sell individual issues of the magazine for $1.99 in the app store.

The ability to purchase in-app subscriptions was requested by readers, RD North America President Dan Lagani said. He said the company anticipates “more Reader’s Digest brands becoming available via iPad subscription–both in the U.S. and around the world.”

Reader’s Digest hired ex-Bloomberg exec Matthew Goldenberg to oversee RD.com strategy in May and also replaced its CEO this year. Reader’s Digest is currently the top-selling magazine in the Kindle Store.

Goldenberg was previously Bloomberg’s managing editor and operations director, and, before that, was VP, Multimedia for the New York Sun.

As general manager of RD.com, he will oversee day-to-day operations, guide the brand’s digital strategy, and come up with new products such as apps and e-newsletters. Nobody has filled a similar strategic position since 2008, when Jodi Kahn left president of Global Digital Media to go to iVillage in late 2008. She was succeeded by Lara Bashkoff, who exited the publisher in late 2009.

The last major personnel change at the Readers Digest Association took place just last month, when Tom Williams replaced Mary Berner as CEO.

Since emerging from bankruptcy in February 2010, RDA has been busy revamping its digital strategy, and has met with some success: Reader’s Digest is currently the bestselling magazine in Amazon’s Kindle Store, and the company has already released three apps this year.

RDA was a content aggregator long before HuffPo, clipping features from other magazines and newspapers for its print edition, though it has scrambled to translate that strategy to the web. It partnered with health content aggregator OrganizedWisdom in 2011, and bought home-and-DIY-focused vertical ad network Haven Home Media last month.

RDA faces the challenge of appealing to a wide range of ages. It is trying to reach a younger crowd with digital initiatives like those that Goldenberg will oversee, but it must continue to appeal to its base. Yesterday, it announced a partnership with Humana to promote co-branded Medicare products.

Williams, who has been with RDA since 2009, will also be joining the board. In addition to serving as RDA’s CFO, he is also president of one of RDA’s media and entertainment business units. Before joining the publisher, Williams was EVP and CFO for Affinion Group. He previously spent more than 21 years with AT&T (NYSE: T) Inc. where he held a series of senior executive positions including CFO of AT&T Networks.

Berner helped steer RDA through its most difficult period in its 89-year history. The publisher, which filed for Chapter 11 protection in August 2009. It emerged from bankruptcy the following February.

Saying she needed to keep the company’s finances stable, Berner cut lay off 10 percent-roughly 270 positions-of its worldwide staff last June. In another cost-cutting move, RDA, which has nine mags (with a million-plus circ) and 78 websites, moved out of its Pleasantville, NY headquarters to a smaller space in Manhattan.

For background on RDA and its emergence from bankruptcy, see our Reader’s Digest archive. Release

Over the past two years, a number of media companies have looked to outside health content providers as a way to bring in lucrative pharmaceutical advertising. It’s also a good way to build and retain their audience, since the endless array of health information on the web makes everyone an amateur etiologist.

Recently, AOL (NYSE: AOL) began farming out its wellness channel to Everyday Health, while a year ago, ABC (NYSE: DIS) News Yahoo (NSDQ: YHOO) outsourced management for their respective health verticals to Healthline Networks.

Reader’s Digest isn’t going that far. OrganizedWisdom, which has been around for about four years and is backed by include Esther Dyson, Jerry Levin, compiles links and posts by 5,000 doctors and “wellness experts.” The idea is to give people who are frustrated by conflicting information about maladies and medical conditions a quick repository for health advice, though that’s pretty the concept behind every major and minor health site.

OrganizedWisdom’s content will be featured on RD.com. The two will also produce pamphlets for doctor’s offices and special inserts for the print magazine. Release

The tentative economic recovery has helped boost ad spending for magazines versus last year. The RDA has said its revenue declines had been slowing lately. Still, there’s not much to celebrate, as ad revs have fallen 10 percent, though that was partly attributed to a series of reductions in publishing frequency and in its rate base.

In addition to cutting jobs, RDA, which has nine mags (with a million-plus circ) and 78 websites, is also working on moving out of its Pleasantville, NY headquarters to a smaller space in Manhattan.

The UK edition of the magazine, which has been publishing for 72 years, was put into administration by its US parent company Reader’s Digest Association in February, accusing financial regulators in this country of blocking a plan to fix its pension deficit.

Moore Stephens, which is handling the administration, initially received nearly 100 expressions of interest from businesses, but this was whittled down to nine firm offers last month.

Philip Sykes, head of advisory services at Moore Stephens, and a spokeswoman for Better Capital both declined to comment on whether the private equity firm has bought the magazine. It is thought that an official announcement is expected to be made later today.

Moulton, who resigned from the private equity house Alchemy Partners last September after a strategy dispute, floated his new company on the Alternative Investment Market in December raising £142.4m.

According to the FT, Better Capital’s deal to buy the Reader’s Digest involved “difficult negotiations” over the rights for the brand, which was still owned by the US parent company.

This article originally appeared in © Guardian News & Media Ltd..