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.
UK publishers have seen their total annual digital revenues grow by 62% over the last four years, according to analysis from the Digital Publishers Revenue Index (DPRI), a quarterly report of UK publishers from the Association of Online Publishers (A
Imagine Publishing has announced the launch of Explore History, which it describes as the world’s first travel/history hybrid magazine.
Dennis Publishing has announced that it will be launching Cyclist magazine in France at the end of June.
Vogue Video will be celebrating the centenary of British Vogue with a series of specially commissioned films, it was announced yesterday.
Puzzler Media is to launch its first dedicated dot-to-dot magazine in response to the growing trend for turning old childhood activities into adult leisure activities.
Magnetic, the marketing agency for magazine media, has published new research in collaboration with Millward Brown – Why Being Different Still Makes a Difference.
Senior marketers in the UK are overwhelmingly in favour of remaining in the UK, according to a survey by The Marketing Society, in partnership with RadiumOne.
Adestra has announced the addition of a new email editing feature to its MessageFocus platform.
On 24th November 2016, Beauty Magazine will present The Beauty Awards at The Banqueting House in London, in partnership with OK! Magazine.
A number of publishers have transferred their subscriptions management to Quadrant, part of the Air Business Group, in the first quarter of 2016.
Cosmopolitan has partnered with Estée Lauder to launch The Edge, a bespoke digital pop-up brand written for millennials, by millennials, to promote Estée Lauder’s new make-up and skincare brand - The Estée Edit.
A pop-up Vogue Café will open at Westfield London next month, it was announced yesterday, as part of the magazine’s centenary celebrations.
Edition Digital, the publishing solutions company, has launched its own media hub, a responsive website which explores the world of digital publishing.
ATG Media Production, the Peterborough based magazine design and production business, has entered into an agreement with Kelsey Media to deliver their whole copy chasing and production business.
The Association of Online Publishers has announced the shortlist for its annual Digital Publishing Awards.
