FOLIO: Section Blogs by Audience Development

Big Pubs Looking for Strength in Numbers

Jason Fell — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 10:43:30 -0400

Where smaller publishers—from b-to-b to consumer enthusiast—form consortiums to attain economies of scale for materials and production services like printing, paper buying and distribution, the mass consumer publishers are setting aside their historically fierce competitiveness to tackle mass problems.

Across-the-board ad page and revenue drops, online-sourced subscriptions, pay wall models, and digital content formats and distribution are some of the latest battles that big consumer publishers think can be won through solidarity.

It's an interesting concept that can be traced back to then Hachette CEO Jack Kliger's outspoken calls for pre-recession unity to revolutionize rate base—magazines needed to stop competing with each other, come together as a platform and compete with TV, the Internet and radio. "Circulation-based metrics are irrelevant to proving advertising effectiveness," he told an AMC audience in 2005.

Now, sick of feeling the sting from getting spanked by "aggregators," "plagiarists," and "content kleptomaniacs," as Ruport Murdoch put it at a recent event in Beijing where he and the AP's CEO Tom Curley continued their rant against Google et al, big publishers are joining together to ostensibly regain—or actually gain—control of how their content and advertising models are consumed.

How crazy would it have sounded if, before the recession hit, Time Inc., Conde Nast, Hearst and Meredith all joined together to create a digital distribution platform to develop a proprietary content format and service eReaders?

How about creating an ad network? Up to now, publishers were leveraging and/or creating their own vertical networks. Martha Stewart Living, Meredith and Forbes were all creating them. Now, there's some background chatter about the formation of a multi-publisher ad network. AdAge reported on it, and PaidContent threw a wet blanket on the concept.

And then there's Time Inc.'s year-old Maghound, which offers custom subscription packages to a variety of publications from different publishers. 413,000 issues have been shipped so far, and Maghound's president Dave Ventresca told attendees at MPA's Innovation Summit this month that as the service moves out of its proof of concept stage, it will begin a more robust marketing campaign for all participating publisher titles, not just the Time Inc. ones.

Most recently, 15 British publishers formed a venture to promote their thinking person's magazines that apparently get lost in the crush of titles dealing with less weighty topics.

On a smaller publisher scale, but by no means tiny, Mother Jones is leading the formation of a journalistic co-op to tackle, in an investigative format, climate change—several magazines are sharing reporting resources. AdAge's Simon Dumenco spoke with MoJo co-editor Clara Jeffery about the project and her comments about the partnership can be applied to any area of the publishing business.

"We have complementary audiences, but even the biggest players seem to think they can benefit from having their work introduced to the core audiences of the other partners," she told Dumenco.

And, above all, it's the quickly-changing media world that's driving publishers to seek out ideas and and potential partners: "Secondly, everybody is really eager to use this as a way to test-drive collaborations, which everybody sees as a vital part of the emerging media landscape. On that front, we'll likely learn as much from what doesn't work as what does."

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Does Anyone Play Newsstand Shuffle Anymore?

Jason Fell — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 16:45:45 -0400

The games we play change over time. I wonder if my favorite magazine game has gone the way of stickball and “kick the can.”

When I worked at Ziff-Davis in the 1980’s I was fortunate enough to be placed in a “loop course” type of specialized circulation class taught by the VP of Circulation and one of the industry’s most outrageous old school characters, Larry Sporn. Larry taught us a simple little game called “newsstand shuffle.” Basically, all you had to do was go to a newsstand, browse the magazines, and accidentally place your companies’ titles on top of your competitors’ magazines. The trick was to make sure you didn’t get caught by the newsstand manager but this wasn’t very difficult. It was a cheap thrill.

Where the game really got going, though, was the classic Mother of All Newsstands, that being the one at the edge of Grand Central Station, in the PanAm building (now MetLife). Here was a newsstand in the hub of The Great Commute—108,000 people were estimated to be streaming through the building each day, according to an article in the NY Times on June 18, 1984. At that point in time, the newsstand stocked more than 2,000 titles and sold 10,000 copies of magazines per week.

But volume was just half the story. This newsstand was smack in the middle of the magazine publishing AND ad agency capital of the world. Beyond just selling copies, it was critical that the hundreds of media buyers streaming by each day saw your title prominently displayed.

Since so many magazine professionals walked through the station daily, Newsstand Shuffle became a very lively game. If you stood and watched closely you could see people picking up an issue (or four), casually glance over their shoulder at the counter and then quickly shuffle the magazines to their favor. Sometimes competitors would be in the PanAm at the same time seeing who was willing to take a later train and get the last laugh.

Of course the next day, someone else had either fixed the stack or buried your magazine under Civil War News or something. So to win we had to compete almost every day.

Is anyone still playing?

Photo credit: Martin Green
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Believe It or Not, Fewer Magazines Folding in 2009

Vanessa Voltolina — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 11:17:37 -0400

Once again, the number of magazine closings has outpaced the number of titles being launched, according to the latest report from U.S. and Canadian online magazine database MediaFinder.com. But when comparing the number of titles (383) folded through the third quarter of 2009 to the same time period in 2008 and 2007, the pace is significantly less.

According to MediaFinder's most up-to-date numbers, 643 magazines ceased publication in 2007, and a total of 613 magazines closed in 2008. Right now, that means we’re 230 titles off from last year’s total. So unless there’s a dramatic push in closings through the fourth quarter, it looks like the industry may be looking at fewer magazine closings from the past two years (we can only hope!).

Of the 259 titles to launch so far in 2009, the report showed that publishers have pulled the plug on 104 more magazines since the first half this year, when 279 folded publications were counted. During the third quarter, 72 titles launched while 104 magazines closed, including the high-profile closings of publishing giant Condé Nast's four titles—Gourmet, Cookie, Modern Bride and Elegant Bride. Other titles to vanish in ’09 included Meredith’s Country Home, Hallmark, American Express Publishing’s Travel & Leisure Golf, Time Inc.’s Southern Accents and Rodale’s Best Life.  

Of the launches in 2009, the regional category topped the list with 15, but also experienced the most folded titles (31), including Tampa Bay Living. Both business and lifestyle categories also declined, folding 14 and 13 titles each, respectively.

The food (14), health & fitness (13), and home (13) categories proved to be popular for launches this year.

B-to-b publications accounted for 75 of the new title launches, 130 of the shuttered magazines, and 24 of the magazines that ceased print editions over the past nine months, the report said.
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Does The Economist's Cell Phone Newsstand Model Make Sense?

Vanessa Voltolina — Thu, 17 Sep 2009 15:00:09 -0400

The Economist recently announced an innovative newsstand model that provides consumers with the ability to order overnight home delivery of its current edition via alerts to their mobile devices. The trial program sends text messages to its registered users highlighting topics from the current issue and provides a URL for easy ordering. This simple convenience costs $6.99 per issue—the same as the regular newsstand price.

Can this model really achieve profitability? Paul Rossi, The Economist’s North America Publisher, says yes. Rossi claims its publication generates profits similar to its regular newsstand sales due to eliminating wholesaler and retailer payments.

In theory, higher delivery costs would eat into savings. Between the closest delivery zones, FedEx, UPS, and USPS all charge at least $13 for standard overnight delivery of letter-sized envelopes. Presumably, The Economist negotiated reduced shipping rates. Nevertheless, even at a 75% discount, this equates to $3.25 or almost half the issue’s newsstand price. Throw in print, paper, binding, fulfillment, promotion, and so on, and generating significant profits in a fully loaded P&L would prove challenging

Profitability aside, a successful model must be sustainable and provide large-scale potential. As noted in AdAge:

[…] The circulation generated through the cell phone program is likely to remain very small as a proportion of the whole. In England, the number of buyers via text has numbered "hundreds not thousands a week," [Rossi] said. "As a percentage, that’s not very much."

One questions if it would fit better with a monthly publication where waiting only a day versus a few weeks for a magazine is a considerable difference. Perhaps it would make more sense for celebrity titles where gossip and scandals provide a plethora of gotta-have-it-now news.

With free online breaking news available through laptops, iPods, and mobile phones, the three-step process of using a cell phone, going online, then ordering a hard copy just to receive it the next day seems cumbersome.

This is the crux of the issue. The Economist delivers an old medium through a new process. However, with the country battling a recession and consumers’ access to 24/7 free content, the industry still must address the declining demand for magazines.

The model must overcome many issues to achieve financial success of any significance. Nonetheless, investing into a new channel offers valuable returns. The Economist created a new platform to communicate with its readers. The publication will gain key insights into mobile phone marketing. It will also build stronger relationships with its customers. The resulting loyalty can create a foundation the title can cultivate to convert customers to subscribers and to promote other content and services. On the edit side, the magazine will learn what topics appeal to its readers.

In the spirit of innovation, companies often must take risks to reap the rewards, even if those benefits do not arrive in the short term.
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What Outsourcing Circulation Really Means

Jason Fell — Mon, 14 Sep 2009 10:55:38 -0400

News that management consultants were descending upon Condé Nast’s offices kicked up an entertaining mix of blog and comment paranoia and schadenfreude, mostly having to do with perks—perceived or actual—and with headcounts.

Of course, circulators jumped on the opportunity to rekindle with one of their favorite bogeymen: The specter of outsourcing.

Between audience development colleagues, debates on the topic typically revolve around whether it is wise for a publishing company to pursue that route. I don’t have a particularly strong opinion on the question—mostly because I think the best answer is a great cop-out: It depends.

What ought to be of greater interest, however, is getting ahead of how things might evolve if audience development departments were to follow the same path as those of functions that were once integral parts of publishing outfits, such as actual printing, fulfillment, customer service and, increasingly, marketing copywriting and design.

The first few, because of their reliance on expensive and ever-evolving equipment, have come to be dominated by a handful of large, ultra-competitive, and seemingly low-margin providers. Copywriters and designers, on the other hand, fall squarely in the realm of knowledge workers, the creative class. They are mostly made up of small, highly-specialized firms with business models focused on task-specific engagements.

These types of workers are exactly what Fast Company famously heralded in the late nineties: Citizens of Free Agent Nation. They are creative or knowledge workers who often operate from home, always leverage communication technology, spread risk by taking on various clients, accept full responsibility for their output and livelihood and, at least for the successful ones, wouldn’t change their situation for any (fast-disappearing) matching 401K in the world—though one imagines health-insurance envy sometimes kicks in.

Outsourcing Doesn't End There

For audience development professionals, this type of arrangement is easy to envision, particularly if we consider how technology and training have changed in the past few years. Setting training aside for now, let us consider technology. It is now child’s play to set up powerful, secure and affordable connections that enable one to be in touch with both critical data and key stakeholders. And people are getting increasingly adept at working with remote, temporary teams.

At Mansueto Ventures, for instance, we have a key marketing manager operating from Madrid, a team of consultants helping with newsstand out of New Jersey, and an on-call online project manager with whom I speak several times a week, but have only met two or three times in person.

And the “outsourcing” doesn’t end there. We must also add the team handling increasingly involved fulfillment and operations projects out of Iowa (led by someone based out of North Carolina); the production consultants who bid out and see through our printed marketing materials; the other North Carolina woman whom I have never met, and who looks after the finer points of our subscription model; the myriad agents who would like nothing more than to be partners rather than vendors; and the bullpen of designers and copywriters on whom we count to keep breathing new energy into our marketing efforts.

What Does Outsourcing Circ Mean?

From this standpoint, what does the concept of “outsourcing circulation” actually mean? Most tasks have already been entrusted into the hands of folks who are probably better at them than we can ever dream to be. What’s left is a mixture of high-level strategy and mundane but essential coordination tasks, with the latter, again, increasingly facilitated by communication technologies.

So while, in any industry, technology creates a fertile environment for outsourcing discrete tasks, magazine publishers’ shrinking ability to hire and train new talent creates a different dynamic. To be sure, in the past several years, more consumer marketing jobs have been shed than created. On top of that, there are fewer and fewer companies willing to spring for interns or to create structures that count on bringing in untrained talent and slowly, methodically foster their development—and contribution.

This means that, over time, there will be fewer and fewer multi-taskers able to speak fulfillment, navigate ABC arcana, understand what makes publishers happy, grasp the implications of lifetime value and live by the mantra of “test, test, test.”

In fact, there will likely be far fewer such specimen available for hire than there will be management consultants. Not to get too ahead of ourselves but, right now, I’m sure there’s a few far-sighted go-getters who are very interested in learning how McKinsey goes about setting its rates.
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Green at Retail: Magazines Can Increase Environmental Stewardship

Jason Fell — Wed, 02 Sep 2009 15:32:32 -0400

The present economic environment, combined with the growing green movement, can act as a trigger to encourage stakeholders in the newsstand channel to explore how to take more responsibility to reduce the channel’s environment impact, at the same time improving newsstand marketing and distribution.

Green at Retail: Newsstand Marketing and Distribution, a new “green paper” written by the audience marketing company, Next Steps Marketing and Green America Better Paper Project—a nonprofit that grows the green economy and supports environmentally responsible magazines—outlines ways that publishers can achieve higher efficiencies, increased sales, and build better brand awareness with the greatest impact and lowest environmental and economic costs. Here’s a quick look:

Efficiency Tips
• Order regulation. Work with your account executive to review line by line distribution and request changes where the sale is too high or low.
• Remove zero copy sales. A report is available from your national distributor that highlights retailers that don’t sell any copies. Remove these retailers from your distribution.
• Move to non-returnable distribution. You are paid on your entire draw at a greater discount. This reduces waste, shipping and printing costs.
Marketing & Distribution Tips
• Test new markets. Target markets by demographics, psychographics, or similar titles performance.
• Limit risk. Partner with retailers to get the right product to the right place at the right time in the right quantity.
• Analyze cover price. Assess the benefits on sales from a lower cover price, or improved sales with a higher price and a “printed on recycled paper” logo.
• Examine paper options. Investigate production changes that can save paper expenses and improve the environmental marketing of the publication.
• Explore environmental promotions. Demonstrating environmental leadership can get magazines highly visible placement on promotional racks in retail stores like Barnes and Noble, Hastings Entertainment, and Universal News and also within a special menu option on Amazon.com under “Recycled Paper Magazines.”
Everyone knows it’s an extremely challenging time for the magazine industry and cost savings and marketing practices identified in paper can be the factor for survival. The environmental climate right now is similarly harsh as the public and governments look to be more energy and resource efficient in order to prevent disastrous climate change impacts.

The good news is that while the solutions may require some thinking and a new approach, they do, in fact, exist. Creative marketing and efficiency on the newsstand are helpful for the financial and environmental bottom-lines. The key question is will enough magazines begin exploring these opportunities and implementing solutions in time.
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Publishers Pony Up for Plush Manhattan Show Houses

Vanessa Voltolina — Tue, 01 Sep 2009 12:53:02 -0400

Ailing economy? Down housing market? One might not recall such conditions looking at how some magazine publishers are locking up plush Manhattan residences for events and brand extension initiatives.

Again this fall, Hearst is planning its annual Esquire “Ultimate Bachelor Pad” in Soho, featuring a 9,200-square-foot, glass-walled penthouse at Soho Mews, with an opening gala set for September 21 to celebrate the New York Film Festival.

The price tag for the penthouse? According to nyc BLOG estate site, Soho Mews' rentals range from $7,000 to $20,000 per month. Two years ago, Esquire’s Ultimate Bachelor Pad—Esquire North, located in Harlem—cost $8.5 million.

For the first time ever, The Mews will also host Hearst’s fourth year of “Designer Visions” program, opening on October 13, where each designer decorates a townhouse in “Cinema Style.” Each of Hearst’s three shelter titles has paired with a designer who will choose a movie to be representative of the show home’s décor: House Beautiful’s designer Thom Filicia chose The Big Chill; Town&Country’s Richard Mishaan selected Dinner at Eight; and John Saladino for Veranda went with Girl with a Pearl Earring. Once unveiled, buyers will have the opportunity to purchase these living spaces.

Hachette’s Metropolitan Home will also keep its “Showtime House” alive for a second year (after winning FOLIO:’s 2008 silver FAME Award for Best First-Time Event) with twin penthouses in the Tribeca Summit building. Designers will transform the 14,000-square-foot indoor and outdoor space into rooms based on Showtime series, like Californication, Dexter, Nurse Jackie, The Tudors and Weeds [pictured], and open to the public from September 12 to mid-October.

Regardless of the price, the fact that publishers are still signing on for show houses—particularly when the shelter category has been hit the hardest—is one of the few industry bright spots. Fall parties at the Mews, anyone?

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Celebrity, Fashion Magazines Collect Dust on Newsstands

Jason Fell — Mon, 31 Aug 2009 12:42:54 -0400

The Audit Bureau of Circulations today released its long-awaited FAS-FAX report for the first half of 2009. Not surprisingly, preliminary numbers showed that, of the more than 500 magazines reporting, overall paid subscriptions were flat, up about half a percentage point.

Single copy sales, meanwhile, were down 12 percent overall compared to the same six-month period last year. Notably, our beloved newsstand behemoths—celebrity and fashion titles—saw some of the biggest single copy declines.

In the fashion category, Condé Nast's W registered the biggest newsstand loss of the period, with single copy sales nosediving 21 percent (from 34,917 copies to 27,583). Time Inc.’s In Style followed closely with newsstand sales dropping 20.1 percent to 625,589. Condé Nast's Vogue, the category’s newsstand powerhouse, saw single copy sales drop 7.8 percent to 1,616,908 copies.

Celebrity magazines didn’t fare much better on the newsstand. OK! magazine—which announced today that it is reducing its rate base to 800,000 from 900,000—saw newsstand sales fall 20.4 percent to 398,360 copies. Time Inc.’s Entertainment Weekly posted the only newsstand growth with single copy sales climbing a modest 0.9 percent. Overall circ., however, dropped 1.9 percent to 1,779,537.

Although they don’t rely heavily on newsstand sales, the newsweekly and business/finance categories also saw their share of single copy losses. Money magazine, which actually sells a significant number of copies on the newsstand, saw single copy sales drop 33.9 percent to 67,275 (down from 101,770). Among the decliners in both categories, only BusinessWeek, The Economist and Inc. didn’t post double-digit declines.

Among the gainers, The Week saw single copies skyrocket 131.3 percent, but up only to 4,209 copies from 1,820. U.S. News & World Report (although no longer technically a newsweekly) saw a 27.4 percent spike in newsstand sales while its overall circulation dropped 25.3 percent to 1,365,652 copies.

Here's a look at single copy sales, category-by-category, through the first six months (per ABC):
FASHION 2009 2008 % CHNG

Allure 190,333
228,667
-16.8

Cosmopolitan 1,616,908
1,753,732
-7.8

Elle 291,577
332,167
-12.2

Glamour 589,665
685,633
-14.0

Harper's Bazaar
145,445
167,291
-13.1

In Style
625,589
783,254
-20.1

Lucky 198,583
237,750
-16.5

Marie Claire
263,444
289,668
-9.1

Vogue 374,750
385,500
-2.8

W
27,583
34,917
-21.0
CELEBRITY 2009 2008 % CHNG

Entertainment Weekly
40,494
40,147
0.9

In Touch Weekly
745,123
905,092
-17.7

Life & Style
478,788
519,388 -7.8

OK! 398,360
500,520
-20.4

People 1,319,350
1,512,476
-12.8

Star
601,115 701,318
-14.3

Us Weekly
843,479
869,364
-3.0
NEWSWEEKLIES
2009 2008 % CHNG

Newsweek 64,866
82,756
-21.6

The Week 4,209
1,820 131.3

Time 100,382
95,950
4.6

U.S. News 40,304
31,640
-35.1
BUSINESS/FINANCE
2009 2008 % CHNG

BusinessWeek 27,953 29,917
-6.6

The Economist 62,491
66,888
-6.6

Entrepreneur 38,692
42,981
-10.0

Fast Company 24,659
30,085
-18.0

Forbes 27,172
32,096
-15.3

Fortune 25,409
35,789
-29.0

Harvard Business Review 27,253
32,326
-15.7

Inc. 26,000
21,775
6.9

Kiplinger's 30,731
44,407
-30.8

Money
67,275
101,770
-33.9

SmartMoney
31,886
49,133
-35.1

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Time for Periodicals Class to Pay Up?

Jason Fell — Mon, 24 Aug 2009 16:15:00 -0400

There's an interesting discussion going on at a recent post on the Office of Inspector General, USPS blog, which is hosted by the OIG's Risk Analysis Research Center.

The post is soliciting feedback on the pricing of periodicals class, which has long enjoyed a cap on price increases.

The post goes on the offense, highlighting some striking contrasts between periodicals class and the rest of the mailstream:

"In fact, in the final rate case in 2006 before the new price cap system of the Postal Accountability and Enhancement Act took effect, the 'markup' on Periodicals was only 0.2 percent. Periodicals prices were set so that revenue was only 0.2 percent above attributable costs. The average for all mail was 79.3 percent."

and

"In fiscal year (FY) 2008, Periodicals revenue did not cover costs. In fact, the cost coverage (the ratio of revenue to attributable costs) was only 84 percent. (In rate cases, the recommended prices had to be at least 100 percent of costs.)"

The post does, however, offer good questions for feedback, including a polling feature. Currently, after 203 votes, the choice "Periodicals are an important part of the mailstream, and should be priced to stave off volume losses, regardless of underlying measured costs" has 51 percent of the vote.

There are some great comments from Time Inc.'s Jim O'Brien, Watt's Jim Wessel and ABM's postal counsel David Sraus.

Interestingly, O'Brien notes that periodicals are a "mail multiplier," increasing volume in other classes of mail including first class (bills), standard (direct mail promos and renewal notices) and parcels (football phones and other such premiums).

Click here to read the post, vote and join the discussion.
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Will the USPS Seek An 'Exigent' Rate Increase?

Jason Fell — Mon, 27 Jul 2009 13:32:30 -0400

While there has been recent speculation that the U.S. Postal Service is close to raising First Class stamps from 44 cents to 50 cents or seeking an “exigent increase” of 2 to 3 percent in order to improve its dire financial outlook, there are a couple of actions that it will probably take before getting to that point, according to postal consultant Ed Mayhew.

“The Postmaster General would rather bite the bullet than go for an exigent increase because even as revenue would go up, volume would go down,” he told FOLIO:. “They don’t want to drive customers away.”

■ The Office of the Inspector General recently hired actuarial consultant Hay Group to investigate how funds for postal workers’ retiree benefits were being calculated. The company concluded just last week that “the Office of Personnel Management’s (OPM) assumption that the annual health care cost inflation rate will average 7 percent annually for all future years is unreasonably high. So, based on OPM’s assumptions and methodology, the Postal Service’s future retiree health care liabilities will be overestimated.”

Had these extra charges not been expensed, the Postal Service would have had a net income of approximately $400 million as of the end of this year's fiscal second quarter and a possible “exigent increase” probably wouldn’t have even entered the discussion. The investigation, however, may urge the USPS to adjust retiree benefits in future quarters, therefore, freeing up some much-needed funds.

■ While each class is supposed to contribute 100 percent of its postal costs, the Periodicals class only contributes about 83 percent. Because Periodicals only accounts for 5 percent of overall volume, Mayhew said, this fact has gone largely unnoticed—that is, until coupon mailing company Val Pak recently filed a complaint. In order for periodicals to start contributing what it should, the USPS will have to increase their rates by 17 percent, which would be financially detrimental to most publishers. Mayhew guesses that if the Commission does decide to make the periodical class pay up, the increase won’t come this year and will most likely be done in phases.

And even if the USPS got to a point where they decided that an exigent increase was necessary, the Consumer Price Index needs to increase by 5 percent every month between now and December, Mayhew said, which is unlikely. (Postal rate increases are generally capped by changes in inflation.) The possibility of the USPS switching to a five-day delivery has also been discussed, but that’s up in the air as well, he added.

“It looks possible, but at the same time, the USPS does not have the authority to carry that out—Congress does—so they may have to wait a few years. Everything’s a maybe—a scary maybe.”
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Recently Folded? Beware of Angry Subscribers

Jason Fell — Thu, 23 Jul 2009 11:46:11 -0400

The bad news keeps rolling in for shuttered hip-hop magazine Vibe.

Less than a month after Vibe announced that it was going out of business, an angry subscriber this week filed a federal lawsuit claiming breach of contract. The reader, Enterprise, Alabama resident Kenneth Rogers, reportedly purchased a one-year subscription to Vibe three months before it folded.

Rogers is petitioning for all of the magazine’s subscribers to get a refund for the issues they won’t receive. According to the lawsuit, Vibe’s Web site “continued to contain links to advertisements enticing customers to purchase subscriptions to the magazine” even while the company was “quietly closing up the shop.”

The suit said Vibe Media Group, which is named as a defendant, should have notified subscribers of its intentions to close the magazine.

Whether publishers cough up refunds, or fulfill the remainder of a subscription with another title or by selling its list to another publisher, satisfying subscribers is a topic that has increasingly been discussed as more magazines have been forced to call it quits this year. Just look at the comments posted to FOLIO:’s story from February about the closing of Hallmark magazine. Subscribers don't appear to be happy.

Today, I spoke with professor and ethics columnist Jeffrey Seglin, who said that even when magazines fulfill their subscriptions with other titles, it can anger existing subscribers.

"An ethical response would be to be very clear with readers what you plan to do to fulfill the remainder of their subscription and then to make sure to follow through and do what you say you are going to do," Seglin said. "No communication with readers strikes me as an unacceptable approach."
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July '09: The Month of Rising Rate Bases

Jason Fell — Wed, 22 Jul 2009 15:41:54 -0400

When it comes to rate base adjustments, this week has arguably been the antithesis of the entire first half of 2009.

While titles including Newsweek, New York, Reader’s Digest, Prevention and Vibe (which later folded) announced that they were reducing their rate bases between February and June 2009, Food Network, Life & Style Weekly and Parenting School Years all announced just this week that they were raising their rate bases.

Is this perhaps a sign of better times ahead, or an attempt to reel in skittish advertisers?

“Circulation has been trending in a very positive direction for Life & Style in the first half of 2009,” said vice president and group publisher Mark Oltarsh, who announced today that the title was increasing its rate base to 450,000 from 400,000. “We’ve been able to carve out a clear position in the marketplace, and readers are responding positively.”

Oltarsh added that based on a new editorial direction, which includes strengthening its celebrity coverage and providing more lifestyle details, Life & Style has been able to secure new advertisers across a variety of categories, including Proctor & Gamble, Frito Lay and Burger King.

Also this week, Hearst announced that Food Network magazine’s rate base is now up to one million just three months after more than doubling its rate base—quite a feat for a title the only hit newsstands in May—while Bonnier Corp. raised Parenting School Years' rate base from 500,000 to 550,000 just five months after its debut issue.

Both Parenting School Years and Food Network magazines attributed their recent success to a multiplatform strategy. “The multiplatform marketing strategy along with the strength of the Food Network brand continues to drive demand, shattering both our circulation and advertising benchmarks,” Vicki Wellington, publisher, Food Network magazine, said in a statement.

But what do all of these titles have in common? They seem to each target a very specific group of readers: Parenting School Years’ specifically targets the mothers of school-age children; Life & Style Weekly targets young, female readers with a strong sense of fashion and style sensibility; and Food Network captures those that are already attracted to the television network and its celebrity chef lineup.

It seems as if titles that create specific communities around relative content using various platforms will be the ones to weather the current economic storm. Go figure.
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279 Magazines Shuttered in the First Half

Vanessa Voltolina — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 16:39:19 -0400

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 magazines have launched and 184 have folded, compared
with 110 launches and 95 closings in the first quarter of 2009.

A bright spot, if there is one, is that after the print editions folded, 43 titles continued to live on the Web.
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Marie Claire Taps Twitter for More Than Just Traffic Bump

Jason Fell — Fri, 26 Jun 2009 17:00:14 -0400

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 Fresh Content
Marie Claire regularly connects with Twitter followers for new, reader-generated content. Recently, Marie Claire followers have submitted their worst date stories, participated in a poll about dating in their cities, and emailed us about their favorite bloggers on Twitter for our Blog Crush feature. We've also used Twitter to mine for career and money experts to answer question for our Career & Money Coach blog.

Live Tweeting
We tweeted during each new episode of Marie Claire's reality show, Running in Heels, and will be doing the same during the new season of Project Runway. We also live-tweeted a blind date in April, in which I went on a blind date with another Twitter user, both tweeting the whole evening for a real-time he said/she said. Our followers had a lot of fun reading along and commenting, and many stuck around through the whole five-hour date.

Answering Reader Questions
Getting on Twitter has allowed us to provide almost immediate answers to reader questions and concerns. We check our replies daily, along with any mentions of the magazine and site by Twitter users that don't necessarily know we're on Twitter yet, and we answer their questions, from queries about specific issues ("who designed the jacket Christina Aguilera wore on your cover last year?") to readers' problems that our content can answer ("so stressed—anyone have stress busting or work/life balance tips?") We also make sure that we follow back and talk to those Tweeters that reply to us and retweet us often so that the conversation isn't one-sided.

Developing Relationships with Other Sites & Bloggers
In addition to developing relationships with our readers and Twitter followers, we also keep up with the tweets of sites and bloggers whose readers overlap with ours (like @TheFrisky, @LemondropTweets, and @YourTango). Replying to and retweeting each other opens up the conversation to a larger group of Tweeters and helps all of us to further establish our presence and value on Twitter.

Offering Discounts, Coupons and Freebies
We love being able to share deals with our followers—we tweet all of our shopping discounts on our Diary of Fashionista blog, update followers on our daily giveaways, and retweet other great deals and sales that we hear about. We also recently tweeted about a one-day subscription sale on all Hearst magazines. It was retweeted 42 times and we got great feedback from our followers—many not only subscribed to Marie Claire, but to a handful of the other magazines as well!
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A Mexican Standoff at the Newsstand

Mon, 13 Apr 2009 10:07:40 -0400

The moment I heard of the flare-up between newsstand distributors, wholesalers and publishers, whereby one party demanded higher fees or else, another stumped for status quo or else, and the other just made a lot of noise, I was reminded of Reservoir Dogs, the gory Tarantino crime caper famous for, among other scenes, its “Mexican standoff” ending.
That’s the classic spaghetti western situation in which each character has a gun pointed at another character’s head, forming a literal deadlock and ensuring that, should anyone pull the trigger, all die.

One characteristic of a Mexican standoff is that it can only emerge if all players are focused exclusively on each other with no thought spared for exogenous items such as law enforcement, the clock, passer-bys or, in the case of magazine sellers, customers.

To those in the standoff, such concerns are potentially lethal distractions.
And that’s why the Mexican standoff is such a potent allegory for self-centered oblivion, especially if you take into account that a major precondition to such a standoff is the participants’ inclination to ignore all but their own gun’s aim.

Washing Hands

Which leads me to wonder: How many industries have such a hold on their customers that they can ignore them and continue to thrive? We know how that went for the music industry, stand aghast at how it’s turning out for American banks and car makers, and have an inkling of how it might end for cable.

So with everyone in the single-copy supply chain focused on his or her own immediate interests, all are willing to gamble with the customers’ happiness, washing their hands of their role in the ultimate outcome. “Not my fault if people can’t get their hands on their favorite magazine. The other guy is showing tremendous bad faith.” This will be cold comfort should retailers choose to replace magazines with frozen yogurt or, worse yet, if readers begin to feel they can live with the alternatives to what they would have liked to purchase, but couldn’t find on the shelves.

The industry that can’t find a way to start serving new customers before “four to eight weeks” has thus outdone itself: Whether you’ll be served has devolved to “maybe, maybe not.”

Now that the conflagration is smoldering out, having claimed a major wholesaler in the process, it may be tempting to take a deep breath and pronounce the damage minimal, the whole episode an anomaly. Thanks to heroic efforts by some people in the field, a degree of normalcy was restored relatively quickly, and only a small fraction of customers were frustrated for only a short time.

But this won’t wash away the fact that key industry players were willing to take bets that impacted customers. Although minimum long-term damage may have been done this time (unless of course you are one of the 2,500 laid off Anderson News employees), the parties’ willingness to even take this kind of bet is distressing. If you know what’s good for you, you never bet on your lifeblood.

Admittedly, from the perspective of a publishing company with subscription-heavy titles, it’s easy to claim the high moral ground and advocate that customers must always come first. However, it’s also clear to me that it takes neither courage, nor creativity to reach for one’s gun whenever conflict arises.

With all that’s threatening the magazine publishing industry, couldn’t the players who hold the most influence show that they deserve it and display stewardship as opposed to machismo? Serious negotiating is never easy, but it can’t be done productively if the parties are only concerned with preserving their own piece of the pie and give no consideration to tactics that make everyone a winner—or at least prevent system-wide losses.

Now is Our Chance

In the past few years, several level-headed solutions have been proposed, including reevaluating how many titles should be offered at newsstands, rethinking how payment flows ought to be structured and investing in 21st century information technology. With the latest conflict having resolved nothing, wouldn’t now be the time to launch a pilot program or two?

Everybody knows that the channel’s current equilibrium is unsustainable and that reverting to status quo can only lead to a recurrence of flare-ups like the one we just experienced; this is tantamount to saying we are comfortable continuing on a course that’s detrimental to our customers.

In most movies, likely out of distaste for unhappy endings, directors typically find creative ways to resolve Mexican standoffs. In Reservoir Dogs, Tarantino chose to let events run their course. Let’s just say that there will never be a “Reservoir Dogs II”—at least not with the same cast.
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FASHION	2009	2008	% CHNG
Allure	190,333	228,667	-16.8
Cosmopolitan	1,616,908	1,753,732	-7.8
Elle	291,577	332,167	-12.2
Glamour	589,665	685,633	-14.0
Harper's Bazaar	145,445	167,291	-13.1
In Style	625,589	783,254	-20.1
Lucky	198,583	237,750	-16.5
Marie Claire	263,444	289,668	-9.1
Vogue	374,750	385,500	-2.8
W	27,583	34,917	-21.0

CELEBRITY	2009	2008	% CHNG
Entertainment Weekly	40,494	40,147	0.9
In Touch Weekly	745,123	905,092	-17.7
Life & Style	478,788	519,388	-7.8
OK!	398,360	500,520	-20.4
People	1,319,350	1,512,476	-12.8
Star	601,115	701,318	-14.3
Us Weekly	843,479	869,364	-3.0

NEWSWEEKLIES	2009	2008	% CHNG
Newsweek	64,866	82,756	-21.6
The Week	4,209	1,820	131.3
Time	100,382	95,950	4.6
U.S. News	40,304	31,640	-35.1

BUSINESS/FINANCE	2009	2008	% CHNG
BusinessWeek	27,953	29,917	-6.6
The Economist	62,491	66,888	-6.6
Entrepreneur	38,692	42,981	-10.0
Fast Company	24,659	30,085	-18.0
Forbes	27,172	32,096	-15.3
Fortune	25,409	35,789	-29.0
Harvard Business Review	27,253	32,326	-15.7
Inc.	26,000	21,775	6.9
Kiplinger's	30,731	44,407	-30.8
Money	67,275	101,770	-33.9
SmartMoney	31,886	49,133	-35.1