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.
Spafax, a leading provider of in-fight entertainment and entertainment curation, media sales, and content marketing, yesterday announced the recent appointment of Tullia Vitturi di Este-Lochra as Head of Luxury & International Partnerships.
To mark publication of the magazine’s world exclusive Kasabian interview, the Q logo will be transformed from red to blue, the colour of the band’s beloved Leicester City football club.
STIR, the quarterly magazine on new economics and community action, has launched a brand new digital edition together with complete archive, in partnership with Exact Editions.
Future has appointed Jason Kemp to its Executive Leadership Team as eCommerce & Trading Director.
The Singapore + Wallpaper* Handmade Classics Showcase will be on display from 9 March until 11 June at Gillman Barracks, Singapore.
The Game Fair has announced a new media partnership with Time Inc UK titles including Country Life, The Field, Horse & Hound, Shooting Times, Shooting Gazette and Sporting Gun. This will mean exclusive packages and special ticket offers for readers.
Two cross-industry standards bodies in the US and UK yesterday announced they will work together to tackle some of the biggest issues facing digital advertising including brand safety, buying transparency, fraud and criminal activity.
Acting as an independent provider, Meetrics will offer advertisers new options to verify the viewability and view duration of their campaigns on Facebook services.
Live from yesterday on the Vogue Video channel, Condé Nast Britain debuts a new series of three short films, in partnership with Gemfields.
Wired UK and Ars Technica UK, two of the leading technology publications in the industry, are combining their marketing capabilities with the creation of a single commercial team to be known as the Wired Media Group.
Digital sports content and media group Perform has announced the appointment of Ed Smith to Head of Partnerships and the promotion of Dave Winstone to Head of Programmatic.
The inaugural print issue of Vogue Arabia, the 22nd global edition of the fashion magazine, will go on sale from March 5th, targeting the Middle East and the wider Arab diaspora for the first time.
The Week, Dennis’s current affairs brand, has launched a brand new current affairs podcast: The Week Unwrapped, presented by Olly Mann.
Haymarket has announced a new content partnership with Autobrands Media Ventures Inc (AMVI) to bring Stuff to the Philippines.
Archant's Diana Sims has been appointed as Sales Director for the Archant Weddings portfolio.
