Will CSO Magazine Follow in CMO’s Footsteps?

If anyone needs more proof of the declining value of high quality editorial, this could be it.

CSO Magazine, winner of the most recent Grand Neal award for editorial quality, is in trouble. Now, I know nothing about this directly, but I have this old fashioned habit I can’t get rid of. I count ad pages. And from my hand counts, advertisers could care less about editorial quality.

You may remember the story of IDG’s CMO Magazine. Lots of fanfare, seemingly invincible target along with the side benefit of having the advertiser base as part of the readership. And it immediately sashayed its way into multiple Neal Award nominations in 2006. Only problem was, IDG had already shuttered it, due to lack of interest by advertisers. (ABM scrambled and at least did not let them win any awards.)

The April issue of CSO was down to 5 paid ad pages (6, if you count association pages or trade shows—I don’t) and the total folio was a slender 40 pages. There were 10 ad pages in March, coinciding with a major industry show issue, but only 6 pages the month before. December’s total was 15.3. October 2007—with a redesign—totaled 14.3. In healthier times, October 2006, they sold 29.5 pages.

So what’s happening? Could be that that the sales team has conceded the fight for print and is selling online products harder? I have no doubt that CSO has a robust online business. It may even keep the magazine alive for a while. But what of editorial quality? Do advertisers care anymore?

UPDATE: Just got a call from Bob Bragdon, publisher of CSO, and he assures me the franchise is doing very well (with the robust online activity I had guessed at) and that the print product is indeed profitable. That's good. I too want to see good print titles survive. I'll write about this later but an implied point is that we as an industry have got to figure out how to sell print's unique benefits so that a great editorial product like CSO is rewarded. That's the challenge. 

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By Ted Bahr -- Ted Bahr founded BZ Media, a technology-focused media company, with Alan Zeichick in 1999. Before that, Ted held numerous positions at Miller Freeman, finally as a Group President and member of the Board of Directors. At Miller Freeman, Ted launched 8 magazines, plus many conferences and ancillary products. He has managed magazines in many markets including computers, electronics, music, video, travel, real estate, interior design and manufacturing.

COMMENTS/DISCUSS: 4

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Don't tell me this!

Submitted by Paul Conley on Mon, 04/14/2008 - 19:52.

I still haven't gotten over the death of CMO. I don't think I can take it if yet another great B2B magazine dies an early death.

Some sanity here, please!

Submitted by Scott Shultz on Tue, 04/15/2008 - 15:07.

I mirror your sentiment about not getting over the death of CMO. I was the Art Director for the magazine and although it was an amazing experience, it stings to this day over its demise and subsequent layoff. I still maintain friendships at CXO Media and with some of the staff of CSO. I am pleased to hear there are no plans of shuttering CSO. Maybe all publishers should see the value of saving print as opposed to perpetuating a self-proclamied prophecy of their own imminent doom... public comments about print being dead does not help their print business. Sure, making gobs of cash on print is a thing of the past, but it doesn't mean it should be layed to rest. Doing so amount to corporate greed. Perhaps the most disturbing trend here however is that fine editorial products seem to be valued less and less by advertisers and the public, and this is what poses the real threat to the medium.

CSO A-OK

Submitted by Derek Slater on Wed, 04/16/2008 - 07:37.

Thanks for your interest in our magazine's health! As you noted in your update, we are doing fine. Hiring actually. In the editorial world this might sound like sympathy for the devil, but I think your post is an oversimplification. While there's plenty of research out there (including our own) that shows executive-level audiences actually still prefer print, the advertisers are under pressure for instant, measurable results ("Get me 50 leads, stat!") and that pushes them toward the Web. The pendulum may swing back the other way a bit. (Or it might not.)

What drugs are they on at CXO

Submitted by Joe Base on Thu, 06/26/2008 - 10:55.

Truly everybody knows the print biz, esp ib b2b is way off! They may be profitable with the web, but the print edition has got to be dragging the profits down. It just a matter of how long the mother ship lets that happen!

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