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.
The increasing use of ‘voice’ in the digital world is having a profound effect on how people interact with their digital devices and how companies tailor their digital offering. vjoon’s Laura Matthiesen looks at what it all means for publishers.
James Evelegh's editorial from this week's edition of InPubWeekly.
The team behind Bauer Media’s movie title Empire, is to launch a new magazine curating and celebrating the best in cinematic TV.
Technology is changing everything in the publishing sphere, including the selling of advertising. We grab five minutes with Simon Weare, head of development at PCS, to find out more.
Emily Hallie has been appointed Communications Director of Condé Nast Britain, it was announced yesterday by Albert Read, Managing Director of Condé Nast Britain.
eBay UK has joined with Time Inc UK, tbseen.com and Netmums to create a content marketing programme aimed at busy mums and featuring popular celebrities and editors.
The PPA New Talent Awards were held on March 22 at LSO St. Luke’s, an 18th-century Grade I listed Hawksmoor church.
Most publishers say that meaningful change is necessary to ensure a profitable future. But how many are actually doing it? Jim Bilton reports.
James Evelegh’s roundup of some of the news stories that caught his eye over the last couple of months.
David Hepworth on magazines and beyond
It’s all in the mind. In the publishing world, it’s too easy to see only the challenges and to lose sight of the many opportunities. As Paul Lomax tells James Evelegh, the key to a successful publishing future is to eschew legacy thinking, embrace gr
There have been several important – and at least two momentous – developments in the US magazine media industry since I checked in with you last fall, writes Karlene Lukovitz.
In its 190 year history, The Spectator has never sold more copies than it’s doing now. As editor Fraser Nelson tells Ciar Byrne, the secret is not banging on about politics but serving up an eclectic range of writers and features and, importantly, ge
In 2005, four friends in New York set up a digital media and entertainment company for young women. Today, Refinery29 has more than 450 employees and claims a global audience footprint of 550 million. Mary Hogarth talks to Sarah Raphael and Gillian O
The agricultural sector employs almost half a million people in the UK and spends lots of money on expensive kit. It’s no surprise therefore that there’s a host of magazines vying for farmers’ attention. Alan Geere shines his spotlight on six of them
