You’re reading Significant Digits, a daily digest of the telling numbers tucked inside the news.
1.8 percent shrink
Advertising spending on print magazines is forecasted to drop 1.8 percent this year to $17.4 billion. That’ll be a fun challenge for new Conde Nast CEO Bob Sauerberg, who was promoted over the weekend. [Wall Street Journal]
5th weekend
This weekend was the fifth in a row in which the top movie in America had a predominantly black cast. The movies: “Straight Outta Compton,” “War Room,” and “The Perfect Guy.” [The New York Times]
6-4, 5-7, 6-4, 6-4
Novak Djokovic defeated Roger Federer in the U.S. Open final Sunday night, his third Grand Slam singles title this year. As my colleagues Benjamin Morris and Carl Bialik will tell you, the rivalry between these two is among the best ever. [ESPN]
23 days off
Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush is running for president and his son, Texas Land Commissioner George P. Bush, is helping him. Seems reasonable. But George hasn’t been at his job much as a result: In the first 50 days after his father announced he was running for election, Bush the Younger has been outside of Texas or off work for a cumulative 23 of them, a Houston Chronicle investigation found. [The Houston Chronicle]
59.5 percent
Jeremy Corbyn, a left-wing member of the U.K. Labour party, won 59.5 percent of the vote to become the new party leader. Corbyn focused on inequality and poverty in the leadership election. [BBC]
75 square miles
A fire ravaging Lake County in California is, as of last night, not at all contained and has claimed 75 square miles worth of territory. Upwards of 1,300 people evacuated Middletown. [Los Angeles Times]
93.7 percent
The NFL’s new rule attempting to make extra point attempts harder — by moving the kick back to 32 yards — seems to have succeeded in making the point after a touchdown less of a certainty. Last year, teams scored the extra point 99.3 percent of the time, which is super boring. Yesterday afternoon, there were 63 attempts and 4 misses, which gives us a 93.7 percent success rate. Sure, it’s a single day and small sample size, but it’s a good sign for the league. [Deadspin]
140,000 saigas
Saiga are super-endangered herbivores that look like a camel got funky with a deer. Last May, about 140,000 of them dropped dead over the course of several days. While the exact cause of the die-off remains a mystery, researchers were able to determine that a bacteria that lives in their intestinal tract is involved in some way with the collapse of their immune system. As someone who personally has lots of bacteria in his intestinal tract and also has an immune system, this is horrifying. [The Observer]
2.8 million
Heavy flooding in the eastern region of Japan has led the Fire and Disaster Management Agency to advise 2.8 million people to evacuate. It’s the end of the rainy season and the rain has been nonstop in parts of the country. [CNN]
$25.6 million
“The Visit,” the latest film from M. Night Shyamalan — whose directorial career has been in a bit of a death spiral — took $25.6 million this past weekend at the box office, which for a $5 million movie is pretty good, all things considered. The movie fell to second place behind “The Perfect Guy,” but it’s nice to see Shyamalan pull off the first step of a comeback. [Box Office Mojo]
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