Folio Blogs

The FOLIO 40: A Call for Nominees

Bill Mickey — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 13:13:37 -0500

The year, as it always does, has flown by and we're already in the midst of compiling our annual list of the top innovators in the magazine business and the markets that intersect and influence it—the Folio: 40.

We're excited to announce that starting now, you can have a hand in how the list turns out by nominating a colleague—either at your company or from another one—that has had a meaningful impact on a product, company or even market.

We're looking for nominations in the following categories:

C-Level Visionaries
Top execs that transform culture, company or markets

Industry Influencers
Individuals that have single-handedly sparked a trend

Director-Level Doers
Managers and other senior level executives that develop and execute on wildly successful new initiatives

Under the Radar
Unsung heroes or individuals that quietly work on transformative new ideas or operational breakthroughs

As we note every year, we're not simply looking for the marquee names. There will be some of those on the list for sure, but there are plenty of examples of envelope-pushers, bootstrappers and change agents that toil in the trenches, too. Nominate them.

Click here to fill out our easy nomination form. Nominations are due by March 2nd.

Here's last year's FOLIO: 40 to get you in the mood.

The FOLIO: 40 will be unveiled in April. Submit your nominations now and good luck!

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Ziff Davis Enterprise, Brand Equity and Lead-Gen

Bill Mickey — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 12:29:00 -0500

The sale of Ziff Davis Enterprise to online marketing company QuinStreet Friday raises some interesting and, on the surface, worrisome thoughts on the role brands and content play in connecting buyers and sellers.

I should mention that we don't yet really know how QuinStreet is planning to incorporate ZDE's brands into its operation. The company declined to offer any details in that regard. What we do know is ZDE employees are in the dark as well, with the bulk of them helping transition the brands before their positions are phased out. As many as 100 of the 120 or so employees will not be moving over to the buyer. QuinStreet didn't buy ZDE as a company, it bought its assets.

But how can you have ZDE's market and ZDE's brands when you don't have ZDE?

According to sources, about 20 people will be offered positions with QuinStreet. The positions are a mix of editorial, marketing and sales, certainly not enough to continue supporting content production for eWeek, CIOInsight, Baseline, Channel Insider and Web Buyers Guide.

However, QuinStreet says it has a base of content expertise in the IT space already in place—as many as 40 editors and a pool of 300 freelancer journalists, according to the company.

QuinStreet also bought IT Business Edge last year, and the ZDE deal now gives it a much bigger foothold in the tech vertical.

But presumably, along with the phasing out of ZDE's content, audience and sales specialists, so goes the institutional knowledge of the brands and their community.

Regardless of the motivations behind the deal, whether ZDE's backers wanted a quick exit, you have to question how a dramatic course correction like the sale of these assets is going to have on content quality and, ultimately, brand equity. But at the end of the day, do these matter for a company that's dangling content to attract leads? Does the editorial mission change when the end-goal is servicing leads for marketing clients?

I wouldn't be asking these questions about products created specifically for these purposes, but in this case we're talking about established brands that have rich editorial histories. You can look at this as simply another example of the decline of brands in a very competitive market, finding a resting place in a context that potentially homogenizes that experience. But it's disconcerting to see how easily it can happen.
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Report: Three Demand Media Founders Out

sbotelho — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 13:11:41 -0500

Demand Media has lost three of its founders. According to a report from paidContent, Larry Fitzgibbon, Joe Perez and Steven Kydd are leaving the company.

Fitzgibbon was EVP of international operations; Perez was executive vice president of products; and Kydd acted as EVP of studios. All three have already been removed from Demand’s masthead.

A rep for Demand said the exits were “just coincidence”, and departed execs will “pursue separate opportunities and new business ventures”. EVP of media & marketplace Michael Blend will assume the majority of the responsibilities left open by the staff changes.

Demand Media has been dubbed, less than affectionately, as a prime example of a “content farm” in the publishing industry. A company churning out piece upon piece of SEO-enhanced, freelance-produced copy may be successful, but its model is not viewed as an admirable strategy, especially among publishing vets (see one reaction here).

Perhaps in part to appease its critics, Demand improved wages for its writers in May 2011. Feature writers are now compensated $80 to $350 for their contributions; previously, they earned roughly $15 per article.

Upon closer inspection of Demand’s executive roster, I also noticed a rather odd title: EVP, people operations, held by Courtney Montpas. This appears to be a human resources role, and it’s a shrewd move by Demand to include “people” in this title, almost as if to say, “We really do recognize our employees as human beings!”

While not much is known about why the trio left, or where they are headed next, it is interesting to watch a company so scrutinized in its industry move forward. Three founders, Richard Rosenblatt, Shawn Colo and Montpas, remain with Demand. The company’s video division is set to partner with YouTube in 2012 for its premium content video launch (other partners include Warner Bros. and the Shine Group).

Demand is expected to announce fourth quarter and fiscal 2011 results on February 16.
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Newsstand Innovations: How Partworks Work

sbotelho — Thu, 26 Jan 2012 16:21:52 -0500

Every now and then, when our own newsstand landscape begins to look too homogenous and our cover formulas too tired we look overseas to shake us up a little.

Or a lot—the polybag premium craze that swept our consumer publications a decade or two ago (but who’s counting) was sparked by one UK company.

Polybag premiums to some degree have, after many years, run their course here in the U.S., but any publisher with a serious commitment to a UK distribution is aware that it is still the vernacular on the English newsstand.

Partworks are a UK newsstand innovation that take the practice of polybagging premiums to a new level. They offer expensive, high-quality premiums on every product and, as the name indicates, each premium is a part of a much greater whole.

At a meeting not too long ago Ian Bridgman of Comag UK walked me through the history of partworks, produced mostly by a handful of multi-title international publishers.

Here’s how they work: Each issue of a newsstand release will contain one part of a model or a collection. To get the complete collection, or every part needed to complete the model, it is necessary to purchase every issue. Ian tells me that many give a gift away each week, some to build large scale models which, when finished, are very impressive. A James Bond Austin Martin made of proper metal that takes four years of collecting to finish. A human skeleton (at £5.99 per week) that takes two to three years to collect and build, piece by piece.

What an investment these partworks are for their collectors! By project’s end they might have spent £600 to £1,000 pounds collecting the pieces.

And what a variety of topics to choose from! A collection of insects, or action figures, or precious rocks. A Victorian doll’s house, a Hello Kitty party, an entire season of CSI on DVD. Product tie-ins galore—Dr. Who, DC Comics, Star Wars.

The partworks series is usually launched after the first of each year, supported by TV advertising, and with a temptingly discounted price for the first issue or issues.

As you might expect, the sales drop off considerably after the first few issues. And here in the U.S., where distribution is so much broader and efficiencies commensurately lower, returns would certainly be a problem. In the UK they manage the return issue by collecting the unsolds and shipping them overseas in staggered launches. France and Italy have proven to be markets for the unsolds, as has, to some degree, Canada.

Could it work here? It’s hard to see how it could work on the newsstand—our high rate of unsolds, the necessity for a large investment in copies to cover a broad geographical area, the difficulty of processing quirky premiums in the wholesale agencies, and the difficulty of getting full-copy returns (undamaged) all combine to make it an unlikely revenue source for U.S. publishers.

But as a direct sale from the publisher? Why not?

Linda Ruth is Principal of Publisher Single Copy Sales Services. Her book of case studies, "How to Market Your Magazine on the Newsstand," is available at BookDojo.com and at Amazon.
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Have You Noticed? There's Been a Flurry of Magazine M&A

Bill Mickey — Tue, 24 Jan 2012 16:09:46 -0500

More than a few magazine and media executives spent the holidays putting the finishing touches on deal closures. We're only 3 weeks into January and there's been a flurry of M&A action—from decently big deals to small.

Here's a recap:

Today of course Meredith announced it's buying Allrecipes.com from Reader's Digest Association, advancing a deep dive strategy into the food vertical as fast as RDA is pulling away from it, having also bought Everyday With Rachael Ray from them. The deal closely followed Meredith's acquisition of FamilyFun from Disney Publishing earlier in the month.
Harry Stagnito has sold Stagnito Media to private equity firm Topspin LBO, which also owns his son's Vermont-based Moose River Media. The deal, says Stagnito, will allow the company to build out its marketing services and data and information products.

Edwin V. Avent's Heart & Soul magazine has been sold to a group of investors called Brown Curry Detry Taylor & Associates. BCDT's principals all have direct ties to the magazine, having worked for it in one capacity or another.

Hanley Wood is now owned by Oaktree Capital Management, Strategic Value Partners and Tennenbaum Capital Partners after going through a major recapitalization, cutting its debt from $410 million to $80 million.

In a retreat from the U.S. market, Future plc sold its U.S. group's Music Division, including 3 magazines, to NewBay Media for $3 million. Revenues for the group in Future's fiscal 2011 were about $13 million.

Grand View Media has taken over management of Shooting Sports Retailer magazine. While not technically a sale, Grand View may have an option to buy after a certain period of time and certain performance goals are met.

F+W Media is expanding its food vertical coverage, too. It bought World Tea Media, which produces the World Tea Expo as well as associated editorial products.

Vibe Holdings has been merged with BlackBook Media and Access Network, forming Vibe Media. The combined entity will be owned by the Yucaipa Johnson Fund, backed by Ron Burkle and Earvin "Magic" Johnson, and InterMedia Partners.

Bangor Metro, a regional magazine serving the Bangor, Maine region, has been sold to Cashman Asset Management.

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SOPA and Magazine Media

sbotelho — Wed, 18 Jan 2012 15:59:41 -0500

In an attempt to protect copyrighted material, the U.S. Congress has been mulling a proposal to curb access to websites, search engine results and domain names, among other things, something that has seemingly outraged many in the digital community.

The bill, entitled the Stop Online Piracy Act [H.R. 3261], has so infuriated Wikipedia that it blacked out its site today. Google has also promoted the bill’s destruction, with its clever logo on its homepage blacked out for the remainder of the day and linked to a petition and fact sheet (pictured).

“The U.S. government could order the blocking of sites using methods similar to those employed by China,” writes the search engine on one of its pages. “Among other things, search engines could be forced to delete entire websites from their search results.”

So far, AOL, eBay, Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn, among others, have already come out against the bill’s proposal, which is known in the Senate as the Protect Intellectual Property Act (PIPA) [S.968].

What would all this mean for our industry, though? When reached by this reporter, the MPA declined to comment. It seems that some type of measure would be supported by the organization, however, which recognizes “the significant impact and harm piracy has on copyright dependent industries like magazines, movies, music and clothing,” a statement from the MPA says.

Where SOPA and PIPA may really hurt our industry is with our advertisers—they could lose millions of dollars by intentionally or unintentionally providing services to “rogue sites.” While many news outlets provide original reporting that would be protected from this law, our advertisers have a stake in different kinds of online properties and may have long court battles ahead of them under the proposal, which could complicate relationships with other existing clients like magazines.

A rogue site is defined as any website that facilitates copyright infringement; one of the reasons Google and Wikipedia are so concerned. Since rogue is so broadly defined, several different digital properties could be at risk for violating the would-be laws--the language could sweep up inocent sites that are merely repurposing content.

“[PIPA] authorizes the Attorney General to direct U.S. based third-parties, including Internet Service Providers, payment processers, online advertising network providers and search engines to take appropriate action to either prevent access to [a ‘rogue’] site, or cease doing business with it,” the statement from the MPA says. “While providing immunity to websites that sold a product that turned out to be counterfeit, PIPA would allow a copyright or trademark holder to ask a judge to compel Internet advertising agencies and financial firms (i.e. MasterCard) to discontinue processing payments or providing services to the rogue sites.”

In addition to possibly harming advertisers, some magazines are spending large sums to create web-exclusive shows with YouTube, which could be harmed in this case and possibly cause other hardships for brand extensions since sharing a video or other content on Facebook could fall under copyright infringement.

"Fighting online piracy is extremely important," writes David Drummond, Google's senior vice president of corporate development and chief legal officer. "We are investing a lot of
time and money in that fight. Last year alone we acted on copyright takedown notices for more than 5 million webpages and invested more than $60 million in the fight against ads appearing on bad sites. And we think there is more that can be done here—like targeted and focused steps to cut off the money supply to foreign pirate sites. If you cut off the money flow, you cut the incentive to steal."

So while Google, Wikipedia and others go black today, the world will wait and so will the magazine industry. The White House has already issued a statement saying it will not sign such legislation if it is passed, which is not easing any woes as of yet.
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The Magazine Medic

sbotelho — Tue, 17 Jan 2012 14:19:14 -0500

THE PATIENT: Success
AGE: 114 years
VITALS: Improving
PROGNOSIS: Good

The kind of high-profile success that Success’ readers desperately desire has largely eluded the magazine itself over the course of its long life. The title has encountered at least two near-death experiences, yet fought back to publish another day. On that basis alone, some may award this book a medal for its mettle.

The most recent incarnation of the magazine, which emerged from ownership’s self-induced coma in 2008, shows promise. (Its claimed, unaudited, circulation is 200,000.) It also shows how challenging is the job of editors who run inspiration-and-advice guides.
How many ways can you persuade readers to pay for a magazine that exists almost solely for the purpose of encouraging their (sometimes unrealistic) ambitions?

What We Prescribe

• Who runs this book, really? An editorial director, an editor-in-chief, and an editor all get credit. Confusing, no?—and troubling as well. Another issue: Names of everyone in the ad sales and marketing departments are accompanied on the masthead by contact details. No such info for the edit staff. Together, these decisions suggest to the Magazine Medic that the book is driven by the business side. Nothing out of the ordinary there, but we see it as a prescription for a compromised editorial mission. At the very least, tell readers how to reach editors.

• Success does an admirable job of mixing it up—adding first-person tales of winning strategies, celebrity profiles, and sure-fire counsel to the editorial salad. The problem is execution. One area in particular that could stand improvement: Headlines and decks, which too often are ill-conceived. We need to know, immediately, who these story subjects are and why they matter.

• Cultivate franchise writers and columnists for Success. It’s comforting to open the book and notice familiar names, such as leadership guru John Maxwell and celeb physician Mehmet Oz, but haven’t we seen them elsewhere? As in everywhere? Far easier said than done, we know, but creating a stable of Successful columnists, such as biz books Fortune and Forbes have managed to do, is a clear signal to readers that we too have our in-house stars.

• Reduce the size of the Tech Tools section. These days, honestly, it’s damn near impossible to keep on top of these ever-changing toys on the daily gizmo blogs. Trying to recommend cool products in a long-lead monthly magazine is a dangerous gamble. Inevitably, as we have seen many times, magazine editors will anoint a gadget a good bet—only to discover weeks later that the industry and consumers have already said, “Uh, not so much.”

Prognosis

Especially in times of economic woe for so many Americans, this is a magazine worth nourishing back to health. Its sweet smell of success may return yet again.

A well-known reporter, writer, and editor—at Time Inc., Primedia and other American publishing companies—Cable Neuhaus has frequently been called on to help create, repair, and run consumer and trade titles of various kinds.
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Twittifying SPIN

sbotelho — Thu, 12 Jan 2012 13:02:32 -0500

This week, music magazine SPIN announced its decision to run the lion’s share of its music reviews on Twitter in 2012. Under the handle @SPINreviews, SPIN’s eight staff editors (and a team of freelancers) will weigh in on over 1,500 albums in 140 characters or less throughout the year. The decision comes amidst other changes at SPIN, including an editorial realignment marking a heavier focus on digital.

On SPIN’s blog, senior editor Christopher Weingarten makes valid points to back this decision. In the digital era, fans often privy to records at the same time music critics are. Leaked albums abound; though, the cynic is me suspects the artists/record labels/PR teams behind them sometimes may be responsible for these leaks. Case in point: in the summer of 2010, songs from Taylor Swift’s hit album “Speak Now” leaked 12 days before the official launch, forcing Big Machine Records to release it early. Within hours, the single “Mine” was number one in iTunes. Hello, publicity.

Weingarten rationalizes, “The value of the average rock critic’s opinion has plummeted now that…you can listen and decide for yourself whether it’s worth a damn.” He also says this method will spare SPIN readers lengthy reviews of mediocre bands: 140 characters later, we’ll know whether an album is worth buying.

Weingarten is correct in this thinking, to an extent. But I think he’s neglecting some of the largest pleasures of an album review, perhaps purposely: the in-depth parsing of a band’s journey, the decoding of instrumentals and influences from an expert’s point of view. In an overly politically correct, PR-manned media world, candid music reviews are refreshing, and never more needed. What would Cameron Crowe say about all of this? The music review is considered an editorial staple in a music mag’s table of contents.

That being said, SPIN will still run 20 long-form reviews monthly on its website. SPIN released 1,000 album critiques on Twitter in 2009, and the strategy must have produced measurable success to be repeated in 2012. I also suspect the one-sentence reviews are borne of a business necessity: 1,500 reviews are a lot, especially for an in-house editorial staff of eight undoubtedly crazed with other responsibilities.

Fortunately, like many digital decisions, this strategy does not have to be a permanent model. It will be interesting to see how fans, and the music industry overall, react to SPIN’s compressed reviews.
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Consumer Mag Advertising Sputters in Second Half 2011

Bill Mickey — Tue, 10 Jan 2012 15:01:42 -0500

The MPA released full-year 2011 PIB numbers today and, as individual consumer publishers already know by now, the third and fourth quarters were not very kind.

There were some exceptions among specific titles of course, which I'll get to in a bit, but in 2011 overall advertising revenues were flat and pages fell about 3 percent compared to 2010.

In the first quarter of 2011, pages jumped 2.5 percent and revenue was up 6 percent compared to same period 2010. In Q2, in hindsight, you can see the slide beginning. Pages were flat at a .3 percent gain over same period 2010 and revenue was up only 2.4 percent.

Then in the third quarter, the numbers quickened their decline—pages falling 5.6 percent and revenue down 1.5 percent compared to same period 2010. Further, the fourth quarter of 2011 saw almost a 5 percent dip in revenue and an 8 percent tumble in pages.

Of the 12 ad categories tracked, 9 of them were in the negative for the full year. The three that grew were Toiletries and Cosmetics (3.8 percent); Apparel and Accessories (5.5 percent); and Financial, Insurance and Real Estate (12.7 percent).

The categories that saw the biggest drops were Home Furnishings and Supplies, down 16 percent, and Food and Food Products, which declined 17 percent.

Among individual magazines, Amex Publishing's Departures led the pack with a 43.3 percent jump in pages. AARP—The Magazine also did well, gaining 29.5 percent in pages for the year over 2010. Meredith's Siempre Mujer jumped 31.5 percent in pages.

People En Espanol and People Style Watch increased pages by 31.5 percent and 38.6 percent respectively. People itself, however, declined 5.6 percent in pages.

In fact, as a category, celebrity weeklies didn't do very well. Star fell 3.8 percent in pages for the year, US Weekly was flat at 1.8 percent, In Touch fell 13.1 percent, and OK fell 1.2 percent.

The two big newsweeklies, Time and Newsweek, were down 2.5 percent and 16.8 percent and The Week dropped 12.9 percent in pages.

Bloomberg Businessweek continued its comeback, ending the year up 19 percent in pages, while Forbes and Fortune were down 3.9 percent and .9 percent respectively.

In terms of total pages sold in 2011, People topped the list at 3,357. New York magazine came in at number two with 2,608 pages sold—not bad for a regional pub. Brides sold 2,603 pages. In Style tallied 2,544 pages and Vogue sold 2,509 pages to round out the top 5.

For more details on the numbers, visit MPA's PIB numbers here.

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TIME’s Cover Double Take

sbotelho — Thu, 05 Jan 2012 10:09:47 -0500

In an interesting move, TIME magazine will run the cover art from its December 12, 2011 issue again on its January 16, 2012 issue. The photo of Mitt Romney’s picture is the same in both treatments, but the headlines and positioning of the image covering the upcoming edition will change. See the covers, and read TIME managing editor Rick Stengel’s letter about the Iowa caucuses as well as the cover decision, below.

Why Iowa Matters (Even If It Shouldn’t)

Iowa is an outlier. The 122,000 people who showed up to vote in the state's caucuses represent less than a fifth of registered Iowa Republicans and exactly 0.09% of the U.S. electorate. In a representative democracy, Iowa is not very representative. It is 91% white and has few Latinos, not many immigrants and low unemployment. Iowa is also the only place in presidential politics where retail campaigning can still make a difference. Jimmy Carter showed this back in 1976, and Rick Santorum followed the same playbook this year.

But Iowa matters, in part because the candidates and media put so much emphasis on it. Probably too much. We would all be better off with a regional primary system, but that's not in the cards. So after more than a year of polls, debates, position papers and commercials, we finally have actual people voting, which is the fundamental right in a democracy. That's really why Iowa matters.

If this week's cover feels a little familiar, there's a good reason for that. In early December, we put Mitt Romney on the cover and asked, "Why Don't They Like Me?" — a question that has been at the heart of the GOP primary process. This week, in the wake of Romney's razor-thin win in Iowa, we've updated and revised the question, using the other half of the same portrait of Romney. The first cover got a lot of attention, not least from Governor Romney himself, who began annotating the cover for those who asked him to sign it. Now the voters in New Hampshire and beyond can answer the question for themselves.
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Prospecting Up-sells with Behavioral Analytics

Bill Mickey — Wed, 04 Jan 2012 12:34:08 -0500

This post is republished with permission and originally appears here.

In paid content, one of the challenges for corporate sales is finding demand for content that can be monetized – finding a good lead. Our research shows one of the best sources for leads is within existing individual subscribers where several individuals are sharing the access to the paid content. The charts below show a typical example of how to identify an individual subscriber that is a lead for an up-sell to a corporate or group agreement.

The first chart shows the daily use profile for two different individual subscribers by graphing the total number of reports accessed over a 90-day period. Each daily use profile is color coded based on the unique devices used to access the reports. The daily use profile with just the blue color shows how one subscriber’s account accessed reports via a single device. The daily use profile with multiple colors shows how the other subscriber’s account accessed reports via five devices (each color representing a distinct device).

Whereas the daily use profile with one color represents a loyal subscriber, the daily use profile with five colors is a prospect for an up-sell because of unmonetized demand of multiple users sharing one subscriber’s account. But how can you be sure the multi-color profile isn’t simply a raving fan?

The number two is a good start. In the hourly use profile for each account, the shared account has twice as many active hours as the individual account. Additionally, some devices are active earlier than other devices (e.g., purple vs. orange) but overlap on their activity which means they are used in different time zones. Also, note the individual account profile shows inactivity for lunch in the middle of the day. There are no low activity hours for the shared account rather it peaks at the periods of most overlap between devices.

Looking at the quarterly use profile, it becomes clear that each of the shared account devices were active throughout the period. Unlike the individual account which had ten inactive work-days during the period, the shared account had no inactive days. Digging deeper into the quarterly profile, the shared account consumes three times the content as compared to the individual account.

The Implication

The shared account exhibits usage profiles with monetizable demand for content. Corporate sales has a number of avenues to pursue the lead either directly, through procurement, or even through compliance. Properly engaged, this lead will convert with high probability.

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Hearst’s David Carey Calls for Aggressive Growth in 2012

sbotelho — Tue, 03 Jan 2012 12:10:46 -0500

Hearst Magazines president David Carey addressed the past year and what’s next for the publisher in a letter to employees sent out this morning. According to Carey, Hearst’s aggressive growth in 2011 (including the acquisition of Lagardere and Hachette Fillappacci; the launch of HGTV Magazine; the debut of brand supplement Marie Claire @Work; and purchases of Red Aril and PayDQ) will continue in 2012.

Now claiming 400,000 digital edition sales a month (the publisher hit 300,000 in late September), Carey reiterates Hearst’s goal to tip one million monthly paid digital subscriptions in the new year. He seems to have found the recipe for instant media attention: call out a projected audience number, and watch as web buzz booms.

Other digital initiatives include the continued transition of Hearst’s magazine sites to HTML5. Good Housekeeping’s website (which was once included among the worst magazine websites on the 'net) was the first to get the HTML5 treatment in 2011.

Though digital may be considered the sexier playing field in the publishing industry, Hearst’s print portfolio will not be neglected in 2012. Aside from the forthcoming semiannual Cosmopolitan Latina, Harper’s Bazaar print presence will launch a revamped look; an increased trim size will debut in February.

Carey highlights streamlined production through the Hachette merger as another benefit of the deal (a less obvious coup than titles like Elle magazine), “[We] are able to realize significant cost synergies through the…work of our service departments, particularly our production, IT and consumer marketing teams.”

As a result of these cross-company initiatives, Carey says, “…roughly 40 percent of our revenues are U.S. print and digital, 40 percent international print and digital, and 20 percent are services (iCrossing and CDS Global).”

Hearst’s growth is impressive, but lends little actionable strategy to publishers of smaller scale and lesser resources. With its new YouTube channels, large acquisitions and flashy media partnerships (Hearst took a 50 percent stake in reality television company Mark Burnett Productions in April), Hearst continues to perpetuate one of the most pervasive trends in the magazine industry as of late: publishers doing a lot of business besides publishing.
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Daily Deal Predictions for 2012

sbotelho — Tue, 20 Dec 2011 15:40:33 -0500

From delayed IPOs, to buyouts, burnouts, layoffs and more, 2011 proved to be a volatile year for the daily deal industry. The business model for profitable group buying remains out of reach for many, and the industry is racing to figure out where to place their bets for growth. Publishers, merchants and business owners want to know what’s next in the social commerce space.

After the phenomenal maturation of the daily deal industry seen in 2011, a new paradigm will usher in programs that merge content with a seamless deal delivery experience. The industry focus will evolve from deal sites and daily emails to other messaging formats, providing relevant deals where, when and how consumers want them. The year 2011 was just Phase One of group buying. Phase Two begins in 2012. Here are some predictions for what portends to be another technologically eventful year in group buying, and reasons why publisher may stand to gain the most.

200 “Groupon Clones” Will Bite The Dust As Consolidation Mode Takes Off

With more than 600 companies currently operating in the group buying space, industry consolidation is going to become a very real threat to many daily deal sites. According to Yipit.com, over 170 deal sites failed in 2011. Next year the trend will continue as large companies purchase smaller rivals and other generic deal brands go belly up. Over 200 of the ‘me-too’ deal sites may close their doors within the first six months of the New Year. Meanwhile, publishers and niche sites that have found a way to integrate daily deals into their existing content, rather than just photocopying Groupon’s model, will not only survive but thrive.

2012 Is The Year of the White Label

White-label providers will reign supreme in 2012. According to Yipit research, this year white labels exhibited a transaction volume of 5-10 percent, but next year it may double as much as 20 percent. Media companies, niche bloggers and digital content creators have credible brands, local sales forces and engaged audiences–critical components that large horizontal sites spend hundreds of millions to grow. The only piece these companies are missing is the technology on which to build a deal site. In the year ahead, white label technologies will allow publishers to prevail after the Groupons of the world have exhausted their resources acquiring new customers and finding new merchants.

Big Branded Sites’ Futures Lies In Instant Contextualized Deals

2012 will be the year big brand sites, which source hundreds of deals to large audiences with diverse interests, establish a profitable business model. But profits will only follow the ability to tailor content, matching the right customer with the right merchant. Simply put, the daily space will be dominated by the players who understand how to effectively merge content and commerce into a seamless experience, allowing consumers access to relevant deals anywhere and at any time. In 2012, Groupon and LivingSocial will make massive investments in their mobile capabilities, while Google, Facebook and other major audience aggregators will extend their commitment to the integration of location, advertorial, mobile and contextual commerce.

The future group buying landscape will be marked by consolidation, significant developments in offer targeting and the introduction of new deal delivery technology. This year’s success sets the stage for other daily deal players to be taken seriously and carve out a niche of the market for their own. 2011 is not the ending for daily deal industry; rather, it’s merely the beginning.

Martin Tobias is founder and CEO of Tippr, a premier provider of group buying solutions and the flagship PoweredByTippr , a white- label platform that enables publishers to create successful group buying services. A Seattle entrepreneur and venture capitalist, Tobias has 25 years combined experience in the venture capital and technology industries, sits on several boards and is involved in numerous charities through the Martin Tobias Foundation. His Twitter handle is @MartinGTobias .

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Face Up: 2011 Year in Review

sbotelho — Tue, 13 Dec 2011 09:59:17 -0500

2011 was a year of redesigns and relaunches, as magazine covers aimed to provoke (and as a result, to sell). Some efforts amounted in positive buzz and hiked newsstand numbers; others inspired seemingly unending rounds of media heckling (Newsweek’s July 4th cover, which featured a very Photoshopped image of the late Princess Diana, here’s lookin’ at you). Here, FOLIO: asks three of our 2011 FaceUp participants to weigh in on their favorite covers of the year.

TIME
October 17, 2011

Publisher: Time Inc.
Design Director: D.W. Pine
Managing Editor: Rick Stengel

“I can’t guess how many magazine covers have been designed in the past year (and I’m only counting the ones that didn’t end up in the AD’s drawer). 365 days, 12 months, 52 weeks—hundreds, thousands, maybe more. Weekly, bi-weekly, monthly, bi-monthly, quarterly—you get the idea. Consequently, when I was asked to pick one favorite from the past year, I almost balked. After thinking about it for awhile, I realized that this year I could actually answer that question with conviction. Anyone who’s been in the publishing business for twenty plus years (particularly on the design side) will understand my answer.”

- Mick Schnepf, Art Director, Traditional Home Magazine

Complex
August/September 2011

Publishing Company: Complex Media
Editor-in-Chief: Noah Callahan-Bever
Art Director: Brent Rollins

“Hard to go wrong with a beautiful cover subject like Beyoncé, but the Complex design and photo team raise the bar for a celebrity cover by wrapping Beyoncé in a beautiful set of undulating typography. For this Style & Design cover story, Complex recruited photographer Thierry Le Gouès and artist Ebon Heath. Stunning photography, sensual typography, and killer styling come together in this iconic, arresting cover. A ‘Cover of the Day’ for SPD back in July—this cover is my Cover of the Year.”

-Josh Klenert, Society of Publication Designers, Vice President, Board of Directors

ESPN Magazine
May 16, 2011

Publisher: ESPN The Magazine LLC
Art Directors: Jason Lancaster
Editor-in-Chief: Gary Belsky (now former EIC)

“The gruesome image is stunning, I couldn’t stop looking at it. And I loved the decision to understate the size of the main cover line and put it in the yellow strip.”

- David Speranza, design director, Bicycling Magazine

Have a unique “cover” story? Contact associate editor Stefanie Botelho at sbotelho@red7media.com.
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Utne Reader To Shut Down Editorial Offices, Relocate to Ogden Headquarters

sbotelho — Tue, 06 Dec 2011 12:14:40 -0500

For the magazine industry, the holiday season thus far has been mixed. The first full week of December brings two pieces of sad news (not including the holiday party budget reductions reported earlier this week—the horror, the horror).

Get Married Media is closing down within upcoming weeks, and Utne Reader is relocating to publisher Ogden Publications’ headquarters in Topeka, Kansas from Minneapolis, Minnesota. The physical move may not be so bad (I hear the Kansas landscape is beautiful), but it is the staff changes and budget reduction that makes this tough news to report.

According to reports from the StarTribune, Ogden Publications is bringing bi-monthly Utne Reader under its headquarters’ roof “so the 30 Ogden employees who work on other magazines can share space and workload”. Other titles include Mother Earth News, Motorcycle Classics, Grit and Capper’s. The seven staffers currently running Utne have elected to not make the Kansas transition, Utne Reader EIC David Schimke tells FOLIO:. Two more issues will be released before the Minnesota’s office closure ensues in March.

Schimke says Ogden Publications may be planning to cut the literary digest’s budget in half, down from $500,000 to $250,000. He tells FOLIO:, "I don't think it was an editorial quality decision, it was about the affordability. Having a satellite office in this day and age is hard."

Earlier this year, Utne was ready to embrace the medium founder Eric Utne now claims to be the print magazine’s poison. Its Alt Wire service, a socially curated digital magazine built on Sociative Inc.’s R88R Platform, launched in July to a generous amount of buzz from the public. Alt Wire was designed to pick up news a handpicked group of “influencers” shared through Twitter. At the time of launch, web editor David Doody told FOLIO: the majority of content shared through the Alt Wire will be from the alternative press sector, categorized by sites like Mother Jones and The Nation.

The only upshot of this news: Utne Reader is not folding…yet. Schimke says, "There will be a smaller core staff, and will be getting support in editorial operations from other Ogden staff." Unfortunately, a new, thinner staff will most likely not lead to a higher quality of product...and a lower quality product will do nothing to improve sales.

Ogden acquired Utne Reader in June 2006. At time of purchase, Utne had a paid circ of 225,000. The magazine debuted in 1984, and now has a single copy price of $6.99.
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