Most folks in the ad game are so focused on digital (ooh!), mobile (ahh!) and gaming (we wish), that it seems no one has noticed the bloodshed occurring in magazines and how their plight slightly echoes that of the ad industry at large. Gradually, and then suddenly, the whole magazine business is bleeding out on the surgeon’s table.
The Audit Bureau of Circulations released its semi-annual report yesterday, and it ain’t pretty. Good Housekeeping (down 20.7 percent), Playboy (down 10.04 percent), Vanity Fair (down 12.8 percent), Vibe (down 18.8 percent), Marie Claire (down 14.3 percent), and Traditional Home (down 15.6 percent) and that’s the shortlist.
This is where you’re thinking – what about the celeb rags? Once hailed as the saving grace of industry newsstand sales, the every multiplying gossip rags are trending down in single copy sales. People fell 8.49%! Meanwhile, In Touch Weekly (.06%), Us Weekly (2.74%) and OK! (7.13%) showed increases. Some of these pubs need euthanasia. As noted years ago, why should you pay an ever increasing newsstand cost when you can just hop on Dlisted to get Britney gossip for free?
Meanwhile, the newsweeklies stood on opposite sides of the results. Time dropped 19.4 percent in single copy sales. Yet, the Economist was up 12.8% overall with 10.1% in single copy sales and The Week jumped 8.1%.
Right now, some of you are cheering. You’re thinking to yourself – maybe, just maybe America is back on the smart fast track. No. Nope. First off, none of these publications are in the Top 25 for verified circulation numbers or single copy sales, so pipe down. Though,The Economist, has barely been scratched these last few years. In fact, it’s managed to create some smart marketing partnerships (e.g Linkedin) and circ offers (lower prices) that have kept it growing. As well, with the Economist, it’s the content, the brand and a strong web component (which it uses very well to drive subscriptions) that keeps its sales up.
The Week is a news aggregator. It’s Google News in print. It’s news content served up in a (basically) digital format that people can swallow. Bound to succeed in this digital and snack culture era.
Bottom line: People still like print. They always will, but you must have a brand. You must have an ethos that is different than that of your competitors. Do you know the difference between People and Life And Style? We don’t think they do either. You must be savvy with your marketing partnerships and be flexible with offers to consumers.
We’re not saying the magazine industry is an easy ride. Certainly not. We were in the business as a Circulation Director. We know the horrors of watching that renewal rate slide. Interestingly, there are a lot of comparisons one could draw to the ad industry:
– the web shows up and everyone goes into shock with new outlets popping up to satisfy demand (Blogs/Specific Digital Agencies)
– everyone is playing a constant game of catch-up with social media (how can we use Twitter to drive subscriptions/sell our client’s product?)
– success requires that many moving parts are all on the same page and that’s tough to do (editorial/marketing/circulation and for agencies creative/planning/producers)
– some outlets continually make changes (The Economist/Goodby Silverstein), some outlets don’t (Vanity Fair/McCann) and some acquire what they need (Publicis and Digitas/Condenast and Condenet)
– proving the value of the business becomes a must, ROI is the only thing that counts (for magazines it is to the media buyers, for agencies it is to the client)
Before you get your panties in a bunch, we’re not saying that the ad industry is heading into the same bowels of death the magazine industry is submerged in. Rather, we’re suggesting that advertising might want to take a look at publishing and consider what lessons can be learned. Here’s one – innovate now. Don’t sleep on it. Look at poor Time magazine – down 17.57% in total circulation. That’s no joke.