FEATURE
An App I Like: The Loop
The Loop breaks the digital magazine mould, writes digital publishing consultant, Adam Tinworth.
Consumer Magazines
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.
Essential Resources
INTERVIEW
Getting on the front foot
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.
Best Practice in Publishing
Consumer media
We asked Tamar Riley, portfolio managing director at Immediate, what does best practice publishing look like in consumer media? This is what she said…
INTERVIEW
Super-serving audiences
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.
A Celebration of Print
Our print strategy: Anthem
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.
INTERVIEW
The changing world of specialist media
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.
INTERVIEW
Speaking to women, intelligently
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.
INTERVIEW
Breaking free
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.
MEDIA FUTURES
Broadening the Revenue Base
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.
FEATURE
Building a modern specialist consumer media business
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.
A Celebration of Print
Circulation: how to make print circulation profitable
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.
All Articles
CASE STUDY
Media Innovation Awards 2014: Motor Sport
Motor Sport is the first publisher to join the 2014 Media Innovation Awards shortlist. Carolyn Morgan looks at the success the publisher has enjoyed with its magazine app.
REVIEW
Lead 2014 – Review
On Thursday 30 January, the Advertising Association held its annual summit, Lead 2014, at Kings Place in London. There was an impressive line-up of speakers and James Evelegh came away mulling over two clear opportunities for publishers.
VIEW FROM THE STATES
Trends We Can Count On in 2014 - Part 1
Anyone who claims to foresee specifically what's going to happen in the magazine media industry over the next twelve months is blowing smoke. That said, writes Karlene Lukovitz, it doesn't take oracular powers to identify major driving trends and res
FEATURE
Redefining the digital magazine
The digital magazine has, for many publishers, not strayed very far from its print origins. The look is the same, as is the content and publishing frequency. But, asks Geoff Love, are we limiting ourselves? Isn’t it time for a root and branch rethink
SERIES
The automation of ad sales: Setting the Scene
Programmatic trading of advertising is growing rapidly, yet remains little understood. In the first of a three part series, Jo Bowman sets out to explain the concepts and to highlight some of the key trends.
FEATURE
Private Eye: a print success story
The circulation of Private Eye has been growing these past ten years. This is no print + web sleight of hand; the growth is all print. Is Private Eye the exception that proves the rule, asks Ciar Byrne, or can the rest of our digitally obsessed indus
INTERVIEW
Carla Buzasi - interview
The Huffington Post is one of the web’s best known news brands, and, unencumbered by any pesky print legacy, it has been able to forge an innovative digital path from the start. Meg Carter talks to UK editor-in-chief Carla Buzasi about what makes the
FEATURE
What is collaborative advertising and why do we need it?
The relationship between publisher, advertiser and agency has changed fundamentally over the past five years. Where once it was essentially transactional, it is now, says The Economist’s Audra Martin, more collaborative and multi-dimensional and that
REVIEW
Next generation digital magazines – insights from the 2013 DMAs
In November, the winners of the 2013 Digital Magazine Awards were announced. With entries from 41 countries, the awards are a good place to track the global trends in digital magazine publishing, writes Carolyn Morgan, one of the lead judges.
COLUMN
Off The Page – David Hepworth on magazines and beyond
David Hepworth's regular column, in the January / February 2014 issue of InPublishing magazine.
SUPPLIER PROFILE
The new old kid on the postal block
Publishers keep their suppliers and potential suppliers under constant review; are rates competitive, are we getting value for money, are they offering new services which can help us gain competitive advantage? Well, there is a major new player, albe
AN APP I LIKE
An App I Like - Radio Times DiscoverTV
Paul Cooper, head of app development at Imagine Publishing, plans his telly viewing with the excellent new Radio Times app.
REVIEW
Photography Week – the pillars of our success
At the recent PPA Independent Publisher Conference, Paul Newman, Group Editor of Future’s Photography Portfolio gave a presentation on the success of their digital-only title. James Evelegh was there.
FEATURE
Publishing 2023
InPublishing celebrated its tenth birthday in November 2013, by asking some leading figures in the publishing world to try to predict what different sectors of the industry would look like in ten year’s time.
