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.
MasterClass is based on a beautifully simple premise. If you want to improve, then you must learn from the best. But you’ve got to pay for it. Matt Kelly, for one, is happy to fork out £70 to learn the art of dramatic writing from David Mamet.
Two of the sessions at October’s FIPP World Congress were given over to native advertising. In one, Jesper Laursen of the Native Advertising Institute, revealed the findings of some recent research and in the other, Carla Faria, director of The Found
Holyrood has been named Scottish Magazine of the Year at the PPA Scottish Magazine Awards 2017.
Empire, Bauer Media’s movie magazine, yesterday revealed its two exclusive Star Wars: The Last Jedi collector’s editions.
When it comes to winning over consumers in this year’s battle of the Christmas ads, authenticity and humour have come out on top according to a study that measured viewers’ emotions by tracking their facial expressions as they watched the ads.
Future plc, the specialist media company, on Friday published results for the year ended 30 September 2017.
The relationship a reader has with a publisher has far more impact on the effectiveness of online ads than the surrounding editorial content, which suggests concerns around brand safety may be misunderstood, according to a new study.
Condé Nast Britain Digital yesterday unveiled Fashion Fairytales, a partnership across British Vogue, Tatler and GQ with Childrensalon.
James Evelegh's editorial from today's edition of InPubWeekly.
The 2017 British Society of Magazine Editors Awards were held yesterday at The Sheraton Grand London Park Lane Hotel.
In London for the PPA Customer Direct conference, we grab five minutes with Jonas Rideout, global business development director at content monetisation specialists, Piano.
TI Productions UK, the recently launched TV production arm of Time Inc UK, is making a one-hour special for A+E Networks UK’s Crime + Investigation.
The annual PPA Customer Direct Conference and Awards took place on November 17 at the Jumeirah Carlton Tower Hotel.
Haymarket is joining some of the world's leading media organisations in backing The Trust Project - a new global industry initiative designed to give audiences the transparency they demand when judging the quality of media.
Deborah Joseph has been appointed Chief Content Officer of Glamour, a new position created to lead the vision for the beauty-first, digital-first media brand, it was announced last week.
