Consumer magazines spent most of the past two decades managing decline. The more confident publishers have stopped doing that. Newsstand sales and print advertising are still shrinking, but well-made titles with loyal readers are raising cover prices and growing.
Scale matters less than it did. Bauer has made Grazia a more premium product and charged more for it, while independents such as Anthem have put print back at the centre of the business and grown their export sales. Stylist has changed format several times without losing its readers. Others have gone the other way, and Gay Times dropped print entirely to build a global audience online.
For most consumer publishers, print is our USP. It’s the anchor that makes advertisers trust us and the very thing that readers want from us.
Jon Bickley Our print strategy: Anthem
Behind the confidence sits some hard arithmetic. Newstrade is now a small share of revenue and events and ecommerce are growing from a low base. Trust has become a selling point as AI fills the web with content of uncertain origin, but the paid-for consumer model that works at scale is still being worked out.
Below you'll find some of our best feature articles on consumer magazines, from premium print and cover pricing to brand extensions, membership and the future of specialist titles, alongside our latest news and industry commentary.
For a while now, magazine publishers have been on the defensive, unsure about the viability of their traditional business model in a fast-changing world. Katie Vanneck-Smith wants to change all that.
We asked Tamar Riley, portfolio managing director at Immediate, what does best practice publishing look like in consumer media? This is what she said…
For premium titles like Grazia, Mojo and Empire, growth is increasingly coming not from extending reach but from deepening engagement with existing passionate audiences, as Lauren Holleyoake tells Ciar Byrne.
The printed magazine will be a cherished part of people’s lives for years to come, says Jon Bickley, co-founder and CEO. That is why it’s the key component in Anthem’s publishing strategy.
With the arrival of AI and the widespread availability of unattributable content, specialist publishers need to ensure that their titles are the trusted go-to brands in their sectors, Our Media’s Andy Marshall tells Ciar Byrne.
Stylist’s mission has been clear from day one: to engage with its female audience in an intelligent, positive and non-exploitative way. 16 years on, and current PPA Media Brand of the Year, they are staying true to those values, says Lisa Smosarski.
Gay Times was stuck in a rut, tied to its traditional publishing model and reaching only a small part of the LGBTQ+ community. Under the editorship of Lewis Corner, that began to change, as he explains to Ciar Byrne.
Whatever the rest of 2024 holds, two things are certain. Firstly, the bumpy economic ride will continue. Secondly, the need for media companies to have a broad base of revenue streams has never been more important or more challenging to achieve.
How do you create a specialist consumer media business that is fit for the future? What steps do you need to take to be resilient and flexible as audiences and technology evolve? Carolyn Morgan researched 20 innovators from across Europe to find out.
For many publishers, circulation is all about chasing volume, but they would be much better off chasing profitability, says Natalie Smith, client relationship manager at Warners.
Whatever else one might think about Nietzsche, writes Karlene Lukovitz, whose husband once wrote a college paper titled ‘Nietzsche Was Nuts’, there’s no more apt cliché for these times than his observation that what doesn’t kill us makes us stronger.
The economic impact of the world’s response to the deadly novel coronavirus may be even more devastating than the public health impact. Carolyn Morgan assesses the likely legacy of the virus.
1,000 copies of Fly Fishing and Fly Tying magazine’s June ‘Lockdown Special’ issue have been donated to NHS hospitals and health worker rest areas.
Yesterday morning, Theresa Villiers, MP for Chipping Barnet, visited the Gold Key Media warehouse to see the Project Wingman work.
Egmont Magazines has announced that Laura Adnitt, Publishing Director based in the UK, will be the main contact for acquiring new IPs for the Egmont group.
The ABC has expanded its validation services to include TAG’s Certified Against Piracy and Certified Against Malware programmes.
The shortlist has been announced for the Campaign Publishing Awards (previously known as the British Media Awards).
How publishers manage their subscription processes is critical to their long term success and profitability. We grab five minutes with Oak Software’s Robert Eyre to discuss subs management.
Cafeyn, an information streaming service, announces the addition of a number of UK newspapers to its platform.
Fashion magazines Arena Homme+ and POP have launched new digital editions in collaboration with archiving company Exact Editions.
The Chelsea Magazine Company last week announced changes to its Wedding and Parenting division.
Atex has announced that Hämeen Sanomat have chosen Saas based Cross-advertising to revamp their multichannel sales capabilities.
Global Media Hub has launched The PPE Hub to promote its ‘Back to Work’ boxes and branded sanitiser stands, which are helping businesses facilitate a safe return to the workplace.
Digital publishing revenues declined to £131.1m in Q4 2019, a 6.2% fall in comparison to Q4 2018, according to the latest Digital Publishers Revenue Index.
Industry charity NewstrAid is sending treat packages to hundreds of beneficiaries coping with lockdown thanks to the generosity of the news trade.
