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.
The UK’s “bestselling independent PlayStation magazine”, Play, has partnered with games publisher Sega to create a collector’s edition of the latest issue to coincide with the release of Aliens Vs Predator.
United Business Media Limited has announced the appointment of Greg Lock as Non Executive Director. Mr Lock joins the Board on Monday 22 February 2010.
Marie Claire, IPC Southbank’s flagship women’s glossy, is launching a pop-up studio during London Fashion Week to photograph the capital’s most stylish women.
Nokia has partnered with Bauer Media brands Heat, Grazia, Empire, FHM, Kiss and 4Music in exclusive cross-platform support of its X6 16GB launch.
IPC Insight, the consumer research division of IPC Media, announces today the appointment of Basis Research to work on its award-winning Origin Panel.
The team behind Haymarket’s Gramophone has created a magazine that gives a glimpse into the inner workings of Robert Redford’s Sundance Institute.
Future, the special-interest media group, has announced it is strengthening its games business with the introduction of two new senior roles.
John Brown has undertaken a new beauty and fashion partwork for Hello Kitty.
ABC has announced the launch of the first ever International Group Product Report (GPR) for The Economist, presenting the group’s worldwide ABC print figures in one place.
The Financial Times has announced that it will be publishing ‘Smart Arts’ on Saturday 20 February, a new, art themed issue of their luxury lifestyle magazine How To Spend It.
Informa Group plc has announced it has formed a new partnership with the National Exhibition Company in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
Polestar has been awarded production of Inside United, the monthly magazine published by Haymarket Media on behalf of Manchester United.
Front magazine has released the following statement in response to the recent release of the July-December ABCs:
IPC Media’s oldest title, The Field, has unveiled a special issue supporting Help For Heroes – a charity for the wounded in Britain’s current conflicts.
St Ives Web, the magazine printing division of St Ives plc, has won the contract to print the Financial Times magazine, ‘How To Spend It’.
