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.
UBM plc has announced that Dame Helen Alexander will join the Board as a non-executive director on 10 May 2012 and will succeed John Botts as Chairman following the Company’s Annual General Meeting which will be held on 11 May 2012.
Hannah Kafanke has been promoted to Advertisement Manager of GQ, the men’s monthly, Condé Nast announced yesterday.
Reed Business Information has sold Totaljobs Group, its online recruitment advertising business in the UK, to StepStone, a subsidiary of Axel Springer AG, for £110m.
Haymarket has unveiled its new company page on Facebook showcasing the new timeline design.
Air Business has recently signed a number of significant new contracts across a number of different publishing sectors.
The May issue of Empire magazine has a special cover to launch the film Prometheus.
Connect Publications (Scotland) Limited has added the bowls magazine, Nationwide Bowler, and its website, to its growing stable of titles.
British Airways is set to launch a regional edition, for South Africa, of its High Life magazine.
Informa plc’s 2011 Corporate Responsibility Report has just been published, providing insights into how the Group’s CR programme has developed and Informa’s future CR priorities.
Royal Britain magazine is producing a souvenir special edition to mark the Queen’s diamond jubilee. It goes on sale 13 April, priced £4.99.
Future’s drumming magazine Rhythm kicks off a planned series of ambitious brand extensions in 2012 with the release of its first bookazine, Rhythm Presents: 100 Drum Heroes this August.
Pony World, a new six weekly title from LCD Publishing, goes on sale 13 April, priced £2.75.
T3, Future’s consumer technology magazine, has unveiled its Hot 100, the “definitive” list of the must-have gadgets of right now.
PPA's Production and Environment Awards are dedicated to upholding and celebrating excellence in magazine production and environmental best practice. The award winners were announced on Thursday 29 March, at OXO2.
The debut issue of Glamour Brazil and the accompanying website, has now launched, with the April issue featuring Brazilian actress Juliana Paes as its cover star.
