There might be a bit more at work here in terms of format.
When I collected 2E Dragon, there was a long stretch where articles brought new elements to the game that simply could not be had elsewhere. 3E, being print, continued this to some extent.
4E Dragon might be suffering because of the digital initiative; because every bit of crunch in Dragon ends up in the Compendium (I think) and Character Builder, development is (I hope) much more careful. That makes it more laborious, and makes it easier to simply use upcoming rule content as articles now for subscribers.
There is a problematic compromise here: it seems that it might be a choice between a larger number of articles and unique content, but a real danger of out and out breaking the system for a while (or not being added to the builder at all), or a larger number of articles that have no rules content, and a few more carefully designed rules articles and book previews.
I think I might prefer more articles with rules, and perhaps a longer lead time on inclusion in the character builder, perhaps even a year.
All this is if I'm right in my impressions; I haven't crunched numbers, so I can't say anything definitive. Word count seems a good comparison, with the limitation that the kinds of words are up for debate; lots of fluff vs. lots of crunch. That becomes a taste matter, but it might explain the difference I think I notice.