The first half numbers are in, and according to MediaFinder.com─an online database of U.S. and Canadian magazines—187 new titles have launched thus far in '09. But unfortunately, the frequency of these launches wasn't enough to counteract the number of titles shuttered.

Of the 279 that folded, main category culprits include regional interest magazines, which took a dive and saw 27 titles fold, like Denver Living and Florida InsideOut. However, regional interest publications were also the top category for new launches at 12. Other categories on the decline include construction, lifestyle and business with 18, 14 and 10 folded titles, respectively.

Since the end of March, 77 magaz More...

Earlier this week, Meredith launched another 360° product designed to provide marketers and advertisers with multimedia to leverage a "Gamma" female audience.

This "product"—essentially a platform of assets pulled together as an integrated buy for advertisers—spawned from a report that the company produced last year revealing the rise of what they dubbed "Gamma Women"—influential and well-connected women who share info. “The reason behind creating this was that as we were out presenting the report, I repeatedly got questions from marketers and advertisers about leveraging gammas. They wanted a da More...

Yesterday, the media lit up with news that Vibe, the R&B and hip hop publication, had abruptly shut its doors.

Meanwhile, over at EbonyJet.com, Adrienne Samuels Gibbs reports that Quincy Jones [pictured], a distinguished jazz and pop music producer, artist, and Vibe founder, wants the magazine back. "I'm trying to buy t More...

In the magazine world, unfortunate celebrity deaths usually mean a newsstand score for publishers (re: Paul Newman). And with the sudden death of Michael Jackson last Thursday, music, entertainment, and newsweekly magazines have been scurrying to publish tribute issues.

While some, like Vibe, have released statements on the King of Pop and his global impact (“Jackson was an absurdly talented, amazingly hardworking, troubled man. Which is to say he was built, literally, to be the biggest pop star this world has ever known,” said a statement fr More...

The legion of people—and magazines—using Twitter multiplies daily. For example, Marie Claire’s account has more than 13,000 followers who, in May, drove more than 32,000 additional page views to MarieClaire.com.

But we use Twitter for more than just linking to our stories and other news; it’s a powerful social networking tool. From seeking feedback to answering questions to arranging blind dates, tweeting, for us, has evolved into a fun way to communicate with some of our most engaged readers/followers.

Here are five ways we’re using Twitter:

Looking for Fr More...

Shaquille O’Neal, the 7-foot-1, 325-pound, 37-year-old Phoenix Suns center, was traded to the Cleveland Cavaliers late yesterday, uniting him with Lebron James, the NBA’s reigning MVP.

O’Neal, one of the most followed celebrities on Twitter (current follower count: 1.4 million), responded via tweets early this morning that he was unaware of the trade, which promptly send Twitterville and those who monitor it into a (sorry) twizzy.

Here’s a recap via TechCrunch:

Look at Shaq’s More...

We don’t write about city travel guides very often. In this case, though, I couldn’t resist.

The Canadian city of Toronto recently debuted its Spring/Summer 2009 “Fun Guide” featuring a smiling, ethnically diverse family on the cover. The problem? The face of the African-Canadian father was digitally imposed onto the face of the man in the original photo.

[Click here to see the comparison.]
More...

With its recent redesign (which I like), Newsweek.com cloned one of the lesser known but truly incredible parts of the New York Times Web site: an encyclopedia-like organization of its archives—including in most cases, an introductory overview—called “Topics,” that can be found at the easy-to-remember URL, http://topics.nytimes.com. Newsweek calls its clone Newsweekopedia but uses the Times-like URL: http://topics.newsweek.com.

That’s where all similarities end.

Newsweek broke rule #1 of building an encyclop More...

Hudson News is at it again.

The company, which operates more than 500 newsstands in major cities, airports and train stations—including New York’s Grand Central Terminal—is treating GQ’s July issue, which features a nude Sacha Baron Cohen (as his flamboyantly gay Brüno character) on its cover “like pornography,” according to the New York Times’ Media Decoder blog.

The newsstand took the liberty of covering up the bottom half of the July cover with a black “blinder.”

While it might More...

A couple years ago, when YouTube and Facebook were leading the buzz-y social media charge (not Twitter), plenty of magazine publishers, envious of their size, traffic and influence, would talk at length during publishing conferences about their plans to create Facebooks and YouTubes for their own verticals.  (For some background, see this FOLIO: 40 profile.)

And while some still are, many—particularly those overseeing general interest titles—have given up that dream of building their own platforms from scratch.

I recently spoke with Rex Hammock—Ham More...

ROI is the number one concern on advertisers’ minds. Ad dollars reveal precisely that priority. According to the IAB, performance-based media accounted for 57 percent of Internet advertising revenues in 2008 and is expected to increase significantly this year.

Not surprisingly, demand for greater ROI has resulted in a fall of eCPMs. Pubmatic’s AdPrice Index Quarterly Report shows that eCPMs experienced a 27 percent drop in third quarter of 2008 (from Q1). Performance pricing models offer publishers an easy way to alleviate the strain of price erosion and maximize their online advertising revenue by tapping into the enormous advertiser demand for increased efficiency and transparency.

With the following four ste More...

When my June/July issue of Men’s Fitness landed in my mailbox, tennis star Rafael Nadal’s shirtless torso looked familiar—and it wasn't because I was looking at my own torso in the mirror, that’s for damn sure. Had it not been for the green Nike polo shirt around his neck, I would’ve never remembered that a similar photo was used on the cover of the 2008 fall fashion issue of New York magazine.

The photos, taken by Nigel Parry, are fantastic, and work remarkably well for both magazines. The New York cover shows Nadal at his pouty and petulant best, giving the camera—and thus, the reader—a wicked come hither look that likely More...