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.
Condé Nast has announced the launch of the Sustainable Fashion Glossary, described as “the authoritative global resource on sustainable fashion and the fashion industry’s role in the climate emergency”.
Publisher’s Toolbox and the University of Kent have collaborated to offer prospective students a “virtual” taste of campus life.
The PPA has announced the shortlist for its annual awards, which this year celebrate its 40th anniversary.
The Economist Group has announced it is laying off 90 employees, around 7 per cent of its total workforce around the world, to address lost revenue caused by the Covid-19 crisis.
The complete archive and all new issues of Mekong Review, an English-language magazine of Asian literature, arts, culture and society, has been launched with digital publishing company Exact Editions.
BBC History Magazine celebrates its 20th anniversary this month with a “packed” birthday issue.
The lockdown has led to three quarters of women wanting help and advice for anxiety, depression or loneliness, a new study by Grazia and Instagram has found.
The Ozone Project has announced Time Out Media in the UK as its newest publisher partner, further increasing the platform’s reach of audiences who are interested in entertainment and cultural events.
The Big Issue has launched a creative campaign to call on the public to take on a challenge to ‘sell’ the magazine on behalf of the street sellers in the wake of the Covid-19 crisis.
One such thing is digital editions, a route to market currently getting a lot of attention.
Richard Reeves, Managing Director of the AOP, offers a publisher perspective on the ISBA programmatic supply chain study.
Readly, a digital magazine subscription service, has appointed Rob Hanlon as its new Global Partnership Director.
Individuals and institutions can now subscribe to the digital edition of Violet Book and access the latest issue across web, iOS and Android platforms.
Bauer Media’s film magazine Empire publishes ‘A Celebration of Cinema’ special with its July issue, with exclusive interviews with stars, given whilst in lockdown.
Atex, a provider of content management and advertising systems for the global media industry, has announce that Foreca is live with Atex’s ACE headless CMS solution.
