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.
Betsy Fast, recently arrived from the US, is Hearst UK’s new executive director of digital editorial strategy. As she tells Ciar Byrne, the UK lags a little way behind the US in terms of digital transformation, but that that presents a huge opportuni
On 10th May at London’s Tobacco Dock, the PPA held its annual festival. With almost 50 different sessions spread across six channels, there was lots to choose from. James Evelegh chose two…
Jim Foster’s publishing world…
Angling may be touted as Britain’s most popular sport, but what is the lure of fishing magazines? Alan Geere casts for clues on the newsstand.
Dennis this week announced the appointment of Mike Darcey as Non-Executive Chairman of the UK Company, and Shareholders’ Representative of the US Company.
FourFourTwo, Haymarket’s football magazine brand, has agreed a strategic partnership with live football fantasy app Ballr.
Egmont Publishing, in partnership with Warner Bros Consumer Products, on behalf of DC Entertainment, has announced the launch of DC Super Hero Girls magazine on 26 July 2017.
Edward Enninful, incoming Editor-in-Chief of British Vogue, has announced a number of new appointments at the title.
James Hewes, who takes over as president and chief executive of FIPP in September, answers our questions about his life in publishing.
Lineup Systems last week announced that US-based Bonnier Corp has chosen Lineup’s cloud-based advertising sales platform AdPoint.
Hearst UK has announced the appointment of Robert Ffitch to the newly created role of Chief Strategy Officer.
Spafax, a leading provider of in-flight entertainment and entertainment curation, media sales, and content marketing, yesterday announced a new major expansion into European markets for its media solutions division.
UK marketers have revised their internet budgets up to the greatest extent since Q3 2007, reveals the latest IPA Bellwether Report published yesterday.
The Atlantic announced this week the promotions of Matt Thompson and Adrienne LaFrance to two of the company’s top editorial positions.
Immediate Media Co yesterday announced the appointment of Sarah Allard as Editor of hitched.co.uk, its wedding planning website.
