Folio RSS

Michael Kinsley to Enter Magazine Editor’s Hall of Fame

Jason Fell — Tue, 09 Feb 2010 11:47:17 -0500

The American Society of Magazine Editors announced that Michael Kinsley has been elected to the Magazine Editor’s Hall of Fame. Kinsley will be inducted at the National Magazine Awards for Digital Media in New York City on March 18.

UPDATE: Penton Media to File for Chapter 11 Bankruptcy

Jason Fell — Tue, 09 Feb 2010 09:42:36 -0500

Trade publisher Penton Media Tuesday announced that it has reached an agreement with its lenders on the terms of a restructuring through a pre-packaged Chapter 11 plan of reorganization. If approved, the plan is expected to eliminate $270 million in debt.

Time in Which Content Retains Value is ‘Rapidly Compressing’

Jason Fell — Mon, 08 Feb 2010 16:00:54 -0500

Fulfillment providers need to think differently about what they do for media companies.

Paid Consumer Circ Continues Decline

Jason Fell — Mon, 08 Feb 2010 12:38:17 -0500

Consumer magazine circulation, as tracked by ABC’s latest FAS-FAX report released Monday, continued its decline. The report shows that overall paid subscriptions for the second-half of 2009 were down slightly by 2.23 percent.

Study: Recession Aside, Sustainability Remains an Important Topic

Jason Fell — Mon, 08 Feb 2010 12:24:51 -0500

Green publishing within the magazine-industry supply chain, has taken a back seat the last 12 or so months to economic survival. However, a new study commissioned by IDEAlliance suggests that sustainability remains an important priority, especially for paper companies and printers.

Regional Publisher Sells One Title, Shutters Two Others

Jason Fell — Mon, 08 Feb 2010 11:14:19 -0500

Minneapolis, Minnesota-based Key Professional Media has sold its group of Super Lawyers magazines to Thomson Reuters. Super Lawyers—a listing of attorneys from more than 70 practice areas—is published as a supplement in newspapers and city magazines in all 50 states.

It’s 2010. Do You Know Where Your Exhibitors Are?

Jason Fell — Mon, 08 Feb 2010 11:06:34 -0500

A look at changing trade show business models.

People on the Move | 02.08.10

Jason Fell — Fri, 05 Feb 2010 16:59:39 -0500

Peter Macey has been promoted to national advertising director at Wired. Previously, Macey served as Northwest director.Hearst named Cortney Pellettieri entertainment editor at Good Housekeeping. Most recently, Pellettieri served as entertainment editor at InStyle.

Johnson Repositions Ebony and Jet

Jason Fell — Fri, 05 Feb 2010 15:59:34 -0500

In the face of a difficult magazine market last year, Chicago-based Johnson Publishing has revamped the editorial brand strategies at Ebony and Jet magazines in an effort to attract new, younger audiences as well as to position the company as the go-to source for news and entertainment with a “u

Demand Media Can Go To Hell

Jason Fell — Thu, 04 Feb 2010 16:36:47 -0500

No magazine should accept content from a company that treats content with such disrespect.

Where We Go From Here: Content and Commerce

Jason Fell — Thu, 04 Feb 2010 15:04:39 -0500

NEW YORK—Investors want to see paid content models while publishers express their doubts, and some dotcoms say the advertising model isn’t done yet—provided publishers can tap into marketing and promotion budgets.

Paid Subs Are Up for Women’s Titles

Jason Fell — Thu, 04 Feb 2010 10:17:15 -0500

According to estimated figures provided by publishers to ABC’s Rapid Report, the women’s category saw meaningful improvement in paid subscriptions during the second half of 2009, while total paid and verified circ remained relatively stable.

End to Tax Cuts Could Cut into M&A Profits

Jason Fell — Thu, 04 Feb 2010 09:40:23 -0500

Barring any action this year by Congress, tax cuts enacted under former President George W. Bush that put federal taxes on capital gains and dividends at 15 percent are set to expire on December 31, 2010. Next year, those taxes would revert back to 20 percent.

Five Things Your Digital Staff Is Dying To Tell You

Matt Kinsman — Thu, 04 Feb 2010 06:39:51 -0500

What they want to say but usually can't.

Life After Doubledown

Jason Fell — Wed, 03 Feb 2010 21:04:40 -0500

One year later, an editor looks back at his time at failed Wall Street elite publisher.

Ad Revs Fell 22 Percent at Time Inc. in 2009

Jason Fell — Wed, 03 Feb 2010 13:30:02 -0500

Time Warner reported Wednesday that its publishing unit, Time Inc., generated $3.7 billion in revenue in 2009, down 19 percent from 2008. Those losses were fueled largely by a 22 percent or $541 million decline in advertising revenue.

New Service Aims to Help Publishers Bypass Google

Jason Fell — Wed, 03 Feb 2010 11:58:32 -0500

While the debate over “Google: Friend or Foe” continues with magazine and online content publishers, a new service from MashLogic offers publishers a way to keep readers at their sites without having to look up related topics on Google or Bing.

ON24 Honors Best Virtual Events

Jason Fell — Wed, 03 Feb 2010 10:20:24 -0500

Webcasting and virtual events vendor ON24 has announced the winners of its first-ever ON24 Virtual Event Excellence Awards. The program was co-sponsored by the Online Marketing Institute, which provided judging on the nominees.

Acquia Releases Hosted Version of Drupal with Social Intent

Jason Fell — Tue, 02 Feb 2010 16:39:37 -0500

Acquia, a commercial software company that provides technical support for the Drupal open source content management system, has released in private beta a hosted version of the CMS called Drupal Gardens.

Managing During a Time of Upheaval

Jason Fell — Tue, 02 Feb 2010 15:51:48 -0500

CLEARWATER BEACH, FLORIDA—The 2010 Primex Conference, which serves the print-media supply chain, began Monday in what some attendees were describing as a wave of pervasive fear in the industry.

Survey: B-to-B Online Marketing to Grow 8 Percent in 2010

Jason Fell — Tue, 02 Feb 2010 14:27:35 -0500

A new survey from consulting firm AMR International says business-to-business online marketing was worth $3 billion in 2009 and will grow 8 percent in 2010.

Busted! Media Gets Burned on iPad Unveiling Prank

Jason Fell — Tue, 02 Feb 2010 12:46:34 -0500

Jason Calacanis’ fake tweets added some fiction to iPad hype.

Inc. Edit Staff to Try Virtual Office for One Month

Matt Kinsman — Tue, 02 Feb 2010 12:11:02 -0500

Other publishers should pay close attention to Inc.'s experiment.

Crain, ALM, McGraw-Hill Lead Pack Among ABM’s Neal Award Finalists

Jason Fell — Tue, 02 Feb 2010 10:30:53 -0500

Trade media association American Business Media Tuesday morning released the finalists for this year’s iteration of its annual Jesse H. Neal awards. Of some 700 entries, 124 have made it to the final round, the group said.

Time Inc. and Smithsonian Strike Ad Sales Partnership

Bill Mickey — Mon, 01 Feb 2010 17:01:15 -0500

Smithsonian magazine is about to get a lot more sales representation. Time Inc. said Monday that it has partnered with Smithsonian Media to include the brand in its corporate sales efforts.

Media M&A Report 2010

Dan Trombetto — Mon, 01 Feb 2010 11:04:13 -0500

The Year of the Distressed Deal is how 2009 will be remembered by most media buyers and sellers.

Multi-Channel Audience Development

Dan Trombetto — Mon, 01 Feb 2010 09:55:34 -0500

Every new line of business publishers pursue—e-commerce, lead-gen, and so on—inherently requires a certain degree of cross-platform selling and conversion. In other words, as publishers expand their product platforms, so go the opportunities to grow overall audience numbers.

Magazine Production’s New World Order

Dan Trombetto — Mon, 01 Feb 2010 09:45:12 -0500

The magazine production department used to be about tracking insertion orders and hard-copy ad materials and shipping by hand all of the magazine pages to the printer. These days, with so many automated tasks and so many different and growing publishing outlets, that traditional production department has gone by the way side.

RDA Delays Chapter 11 Emergence

Jason Fell — Mon, 01 Feb 2010 09:38:34 -0500

The Reader’s Digest Association has decided to delay the company’s emergence from Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in order to “address an issue” involving the pension program associated with its U.K.-based entity, The Reader’s Digest Association Ltd.

Breaking New Accounts

Dan Trombetto — Mon, 01 Feb 2010 09:32:11 -0500

Expanding an existing Client’s buy is always more cost efficient than landing a new account. However, as clients scale back print (and increasingly, all aspects of their budgets), landing new accounts has become more vital than ever.

Build Your Audience With Information Marketing

Dan Trombetto — Mon, 01 Feb 2010 09:21:28 -0500

Whitepapers, case studies and advertorials strengthen bonds with existing customers and capture new prospects, too. Because this material is considered educational and editorial rather than promotional, readers are less skeptical that they’re being sold to and are more receptive to your message.

Q&A with Meredith Corp’s Jack Griffin

Dan Trombetto — Mon, 01 Feb 2010 09:07:58 -0500

Meredith Corp. was one of the few bright spots for publishing media in 2009, with a tale of sliding (but stabilizing revenue) and increasing profits.

Signs of Life for Print?

Dan Trombetto — Mon, 01 Feb 2010 08:50:36 -0500

Only 18 consumer magazines posted ad page growth while total ad pages fell 25.6 percent in 2009, according to Publishers Information Bureau.

Surviving a CMS Migration

Dan Trombetto — Mon, 01 Feb 2010 08:20:10 -0500

A few years ago, migrating content to a new site wasn’t a huge deal. Most publishers had a limited amount of content on their site and it was primarily text. Today, that same site may house thousands of files including video, images and slideshows.

Building a Business Intelligence Group

Dan Trombetto — Mon, 01 Feb 2010 08:12:02 -0500

If “platform agnostic” was the dominant publishing catch phrase of the last five years, “business intelligence” could dominate the next few as publishers move beyond core publishing duties (such as generating content and selling advertising) to offer more agency-like services,

The State of Brand Auditing

Dan Trombetto — Mon, 01 Feb 2010 08:06:05 -0500

In recent years, auditing bureaus ABC and BPA Worldwide have been working to offer ways in which members can offer advertisers more complete views of their brands. ABC introduced its Multimedia Publisher’s Statement for consumer magazines in 2008 and b-to-b magazines in 2009, while BPA introduced its Brand Reach Audit last year.

Magazine Paper: The Outlook for 2010 and Beyond

Dan Trombetto — Mon, 01 Feb 2010 07:40:22 -0500

While 2008 and 2009 saw a significant drop in paper pricing, there are a lot of underlying factors that could reverse the trend in 2010, including paper manufacturers decreasing their production, changes to the tax credits the paper industry receives and the rising demand for paper as the econo

Capturing Highly Targeted Leads

Dan Trombetto — Mon, 01 Feb 2010 07:36:44 -0500

In March, Canon Communications launched DeviceLink.com, a site for the medical device industry. One of the popular features is the supplier directory, where users are able to contact any of the 14,000 suppliers. However, suppliers wanted to see more qualified users.

$300K+ in New Revenue: Intellisphere’s Conference 360

Dan Trombetto — Mon, 01 Feb 2010 07:02:12 -0500

In a market filled with big names such as the New England Journal of Medicine and the Journal of the American Medical Association, medical publisher Intellisphere has created a way to break through with custom edit and marketing packages wrapped around event coverage.

Web 2.0: How to Get What You Don’t Pay For

Dan Trombetto — Fri, 29 Jan 2010 15:55:06 -0500

Let me take you on a journey back in time… It's the late 1990s.

Staying Clear with Your Publishing Mission in a Transformative Digital Age

Dan Trombetto — Fri, 29 Jan 2010 15:50:36 -0500

For all the shiny new toys on display at last month’s Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas—from apps for everything, to TV everywhere, to e-readers that make breakfast—the scene was stolen by the one that wasn’t there: Apple’s breathlessly anticipated whatchamacallit.

Advisory Firm: Trade Show M&A Bubble Could Not Be 'Sustained Indefinitely'

Jason Fell — Fri, 29 Jan 2010 15:48:05 -0500

The buying "frenzy" in the trade show industry over the last 10 years has come to a crashing halt, according to trade/consumer show and trade publishing M&A advisory firm Corporate Solutions. The firms said it tracked 21 mostly smaller trade-show related deals in 2009, down from 32 in 2008.

Face Up: Flow Control

Dan Trombetto — Fri, 29 Jan 2010 15:15:09 -0500

MAGSTATS

Digital Magazines News Wire | 01.29.09

cgreene — Fri, 29 Jan 2010 14:09:56 -0500

Zinio Launches Digital Edition for United States Tennis Association Zinio has teamed up with the United States Tennis Association for a 106-page digital edition of USTA Magazine, going out to USTA’s 742,000 members.

Creating and Marketing One-Off Digital Editions

cgreene — Fri, 29 Jan 2010 14:05:29 -0500

For a few years now, publishers have been utilizing digital editions as an alternative way of reaching their core print subscribers, whether it’s for economical or environmental reasons.

Producing Content for Tablets and Apps

cgreene — Fri, 29 Jan 2010 13:45:38 -0500

The growing swell of e-reader and tablet devices has reached deluge proportions—and if the population at large didn’t know it, Apple’s iPad debut will help mainstream the concept. Yet the platform is still very young, not yet driven by consumer preferences.

Getting a Deal Done

Dan Trombetto — Fri, 29 Jan 2010 13:15:17 -0500

In the wild and fast days of 2007 when a record number of media deals were closing at record valuations, the acquisition process was well-oiled by massive amounts of debt at very favorable terms. Now, however, that very factor has reversed itself, drastically changing not only how deals are getting done, how many are closed and their value, but who’s doing the buying and selling.

Apple's iPad: A Question for the Magazine Industry, Not an Answer

Jason Fell — Fri, 29 Jan 2010 13:12:54 -0500

It packs a visual punch, but where are the magazine-ready software and services?

Evaluating and Valuing Online Properties

Dan Trombetto — Fri, 29 Jan 2010 13:08:57 -0500

While digital content properties were once a popular acquisition target for publishers, more recent trends indicate technology companies, especially those that can provide a non-ad dependant revenue stream, are the flavor for 2010. Accordingly, performing due diligence requires a hard look at technology integration issues and revenue projections.

People on the Move | 02.04.10

Jason Fell — Fri, 29 Jan 2010 13:06:08 -0500

Marcia Bullard will retire as president and CEO of USA Weekend, the weekly magazine insert of USA Today, owner Gannet Co. said. Publisher Charles Gabrielson was named president and publisher. Bullard’s retirement will be effective March 31.