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.
Wyndeham Group has announced it is entering into a 90-day consultation process with the 145 staff employed by Wyndeham Plymouth with a proposal to close the web offset printing facility on 22 August 2011.
The official app for London College of Communication (LCC) has launched, providing mobile access to courses, news, events, picture galleries, social networks and more.
UPM is one of the very first companies to achieve multinational corporate registration under the revised EMAS III regulation, the EU's Environmental Management and Auditing Scheme.
Future, the special-interest media group, has announced its 29th annual Golden Joystick Awards.
Origin Publishing is to launch Craftseller, a new magazine that caters for the ever-growing community of people who wish to make and sell handmade crafts.
The Press Complaints Commission has upheld a complaint against Pick Me Up magazine under Clause 16 (Payment to criminals) of the Editors' Code of Practice.
Readers of Wallpaper* will be able to design and receive their own cover for the August Handmade issue of the international design, fashion and lifestyle magazine.
iCAR, the latest magazine launch from Future, the special-interest media group, hits newsstands on Wednesday 18th May.
Last summer, writes Mark Bishop, IPC announced it had reviewed its portfolio and was considering divesting almost 40 brands. In the event, only half were sold. But what thinking underpins such bold decisions, and should all publishers conduct similar
Way back in 2006, in what seem like prehistoric times now, Ross Sturley wrote a piece for us focussing on the future of B2B publishing. “I’ve seen the future” he declared, before setting out an apocalyptic view of collapse into chaos. Five years on,
There can be few jobs in publishing as exciting and varied as editorial development director at a major publisher. Andy Cowles, who has held that position at IPC since 2007, talks to Meg Carter about what he enjoys about the role and what he sees as
Print buyers are an endangered species, with many publishers deciding they no longer need them. This is bad for the individuals concerned, clearly, but says Matthew Parker, not great for the publishers either, as key and still needed skills are lost.
Point-of-sale promotions tend to be more of a slow burn than a big bang for magazine publishers. Jo Bowman looks at why, and what might deliver a spark.
TopGear magazine has teamed up with Universal Pictures & Working Title Films to offer readers an exclusive preview of forthcoming documentary Senna.
Maney Publishing has announced that Andrea Crisanti, Professor of Molecular Parasitology at Imperial College London, is the new Editor-in-Chief of Annals of Tropical Medicine & Parasitology.
