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.
As GDPR comes into effect in less than a month, Shortlist Media, the producers of Emerald Street and Mr Hyde, will be introducing tailored preference centres with different content themes each day that subscribers chose to receive, in order to comply
Central London based pre-media company f1 Colour has announced the appointment of Les Pipe as a director of the business.
UK advertising expenditure grew 4.6% to reach £22.2bn in 2017, the eighth consecutive year of market growth, according to the latest annual Advertising Association/WARC Expenditure Report, released yesterday.
The AOP has announced the shortlist for its 2018 Digital Publishing Awards. The winners will be unveiled on 27 June.
MediaFund has announced that it has advised Health Press Ltd, an information service for the medical community, on its sale to S. Karger AG, a leading biomedical publisher.
Camilla Kay has been appointed Beauty and Lifestyle Director of Glamour, and Lottie Winter has been appointed Beauty Editor, with immediate effect.
Immediate Media Co yesterday announced three major appointments to its leadership team, significantly strengthening its strategic and e-commerce expertise.
Advertisers spent £476 million more on smartphone video ads in 2017, making it the fastest-growing online ad format, according to the latest Digital Adspend report by the Internet Advertising Bureau (IAB) UK and PwC.
James Evelegh's editorial from this week's edition of InPubWeekly.
Bauer Media has announced its intention to cease publication of The Debrief.
As of May 1st, Denmaur Independent Papers Ltd will be restructured as: Denmaur Paper, devoted to paper sales in the commercial print sector; and Denmaur Media, for publishers and end user customers.
UK ad viewability levels have hit their highest level since records began back in the second quarter of 2014, according to the latest quarterly benchmark report from ad verification firm Meetrics.
Celloglas, a specialist in decorative print finishing, has been awarded Zero to Landfill and Zero Foil 2 Landfill status across all sites, having been working with their suppliers to commit to diverting waste from landfill.
ACE has unveiled the shortlist for its NMA2018 Awards.
The Published Audience Measurement Company (PAMCo) has today (April 19th) released the industry’s new audience measurement currency, PAMCo - Audience Measurement for Publishers.
