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.
Print Power is now launched and is active in 14 European countries. Print Power is a new European organisation dedicated to promoting print media through focused and highly effective marketing and advertising messages.
A Doctor Who partwork will launch this spring, BBC Magazines has announced.
Just in are the top-line results from the InPublishing / Specialist Media Show survey of around 200 publishers polling their views on paid online content, live events, apps, digital editions and social media. Carolyn Morgan gives us a flavour of the
Bauer Access, Bauer Media's new commercial creative initiative, has secured an exclusive deal with Fox Home Entertainment to celebrate the release of Glee Season 2 on DVD.
Pretty Princess Wedding, a oneshot from Prestige Publishing, aimed at 4-7 year old girls, goes on sale 8th April, priced £2.50.
Future has revealed an “exciting new look” for DVD & Blu-ray Review – the guide to home entertainment.
SFX, Future’s sci-fi, fantasy and horror magazine, is celebrating the return of ‘Doctor Who’ with a new-look for the magazine, featuring an exclusive cover and a world-first ‘Doctor Who’ sound card - which makes the noise of a TARDIS when readers ope
Woman’s Weekly pays tribute to the Hollywood icon, Dame Elizabeth Taylor with a special commemorative one-shot magazine, celebrating the life of one of the 20th Century’s biggest movie stars.
Ford has teamed up with Bauer Media to create a multi- platform media partnership to launch the new Ford Focus.
New subscribers to the May issue of Q will receive a world exclusive Foo Fighters album, Medium Rare - a previously unreleased collection of covers by the band.
Simon Horne has been appointed chief financial officer, general manager and senior vice president of Hearst Magazines International (HMI) it was announced today by Duncan Edwards, HMI’s president and CEO.
Bauer Media has promoted Mojo Editor In Chief, Phil Alexander, to the newly-created role of Associate Publisher on Bauer's music brands Kerrang! and MOJO - in addition to his current role as Editor-in-Chief.
It was an outstanding evening on Sunday 27th March as some of the film industry's biggest and most respected stars turned out to celebrate the Jameson Empire Awards 2011.
Bloomberg L.P. has announced the formation of the Bloomberg Media Group, a unified consumer media group that brings together Bloomberg's television, print, radio, mobile and digital media properties.
Centaur Media has recently announced a number of launches.
