New York—During the first nine months of the year, the number of magazine launches was more than three times the number of closings, according to MediaFinder, an online database of U.S. and Canadian publications. There were 138 magazine launches in the first nine months of this year, down 24% from 181 in the same period last year. Magazine closures decreased 26%, to 45 during the first three quarters of this year from 61 during the same period last year. In the b-to-b magazine sector, 17 titles were launched in the first nine months of this year, down from 25 in the same period of 2012. Eleven titles were shuttered this year, compared with 12 in the same period last year.