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 outsourcing of circulation processes usually involves the transfer of personal data – sometimes offshore. Rosemary Smith looks at the data protection issues raised and the contractual safeguards publishers need to adopt when outsourcing circulati
Is there such a thing as unwanted revenue? Uncontrolled chasing of one dimensional revenue targets risks rising costs and falling profits. The solution, says Michael Smith, lies in concentrating your resources where they will make the most difference
The September 2007 advertising campaign from the Economist was a new take on their classic red and white treatment. Here, the Economist’s UK publisher, Olly Comyn, explains the thinking behind the campaign.
To work successfully with retailers, it really does help if you can speak the language. Couching your objectives in terms that they can relate to and being able to precisely quantify how they will benefit by listing your title are prerequisites for s
Apparently 70% of magazine purchase decisions at retail are made in the shop! With such a high degree of impulse involved, it puts a lot of pressure on publishers to be creative with their point of sale promotions. Richard Howard looks at what we can
DD usage is now widespread in the publishing sector, but are publishers maximising its potential? Some publishers are introducing DD schemes without the necessary planning, with the result that DD is not always being used as imaginatively or profitab
Karlene Lukovitz asks, are US consumer magazines heading into a serious shake-out period? An uptrend in shut-downs, including high-profile titles, has generated some speculation along these lines.
This may come as a bit of a shock, but publishers can learn something from the direct marketing techniques used in other industries! Hard to imagine, I know. What is particularly interesting, says Debbie Stenning, is to look at the relative importanc
Precisely how copies are allocated to retailers has been the source of animated discussion over the years. Who should decide? The retailers whose shelves the copies sit on, or the publishers who print them in the first place? Stefan Wojciechowski loo
Us publishers, we’re different aren’t we? Special, unpredictable. Retailers don’t really understand us, but that’s ok, because we bring in the footfall – right? And, because we’re so unique, there’s not much we can learn from other more - how shall I
When writing copy, it can be helpful to visualise an extremely sceptical prospect. That way, you won’t allow any lazy assumptions to sneak into your work. Here are twelve ways in which you can add instant credibility to your subscription copy.
Some blunders are blindingly obvious, and, in hindsight, you wonder how you could ever have made such a mistake. Others are more subtle, and even once the damage has been done, you might not even be aware of precisely what caused it. Peter Hobday loo
Within the pages of our publications, we cover green issues extensively, but are we actually adopting more eco-friendly processes ourselves? As environmental concerns rise inexorably up the agenda, publishers need to be aware of the more eco-friendly
Where does the time go? 2007 already drawing to a close. How was it for you? If you’re a US consumer publisher, then, says Karlene Lukovitz, the answer is probably ‘good’ ... and ‘bad’. Roll on 2008!
South Africa has many of the ingredients for a successful export market: widely spoken English, a stable economy and a growing middle class. Scott Goward and Claire Laycock look at the South African magazine market and the opportunities it presents f
