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.
Distripress, the international press association, commissioned Wessenden Marketing to undertake a review of global press trends and of the key issues facing supply chains around the world - The Distripress Circulation Monitor (DCM). Jim Bilton summar
Jim Foster on the world of ePublishing
Need to get out more? Want to be taken to places you can only dream of? Look no further than the travel section of the newsstand. Alan Geere sets the doors to manual.
You’re the new kid on the block. You have no profile, no community and no traffic to your website. Nobody knows you! This clearly has to change if your new magazine is to have any chance of success, and, writes Amanda MacArthur, Twitter is a great wa
Of all the titles out there, writes Dominic Mills, Time Out is perhaps especially suited to mobile. If Dominic doesn’t manage to collect a print copy on the Tuesday, he’s very happy to settle for the apps, both of them!
IBT Media yesterday announced a website redesign of Newsweek and International Business Times across EMEA, as part of the global rebrand which launched in the US recently.
Rulers of Britain: Coin Collection, a new fortnightly partwork from Kelsey Media, goes on sale this week.
Hearst Magazines UK has made two senior digital appointments to Red magazine’s website Redonline.co.uk.
HOUSE by House & Garden has announced the launch of The List, an online guide for anyone seeking a creative professional to work on their home or garden.
The February issue of BBC Good Food Magazine has a choice of covers. For the first time, say the publishers, the food title is giving readers the chance to choose between a steak supper for Valentine’s Day or a stack of pancakes for Shrove Tuesday.
TeamRock is to create and produce a number of radio programmes and podcasts from its stable of rock magazines for Spotify. The first commission is the Metal Hammer show and comes as the magazine celebrates its 30th anniversary.
Bauer Media’s Grazia, the weekly glossy magazine for women, has announced a multi-platform campaign with Matalan to put its exclusive active wear ‘Souluxe’ front of mind for fitness ranges in January and February.
Dawson Media Direct has announced a new international press provision contract with Gulf Air.
Haymarket Media Group has been recognised as a Top 100 Apprenticeship Employer for the Haymarket Skills Academy.
GamesMaster magazine, Future plc’s multi-platform videogame magazine, this week celebrates its 300th issue.
