We’ve reached the end of the glossy era
Australia’s glossy magazines today saw the worst circulation results in history. And while there’s no going back to print’s glory years, if media companies choose to focus on digital, it’s not too late for them to win the new battle, argues PR and publishing editor, Miranda Ward.
It is hard to let go of tradition – and for journalists and publishers that means print. The magazine industry often argues the relevance of the printed product, suggesting that the magazine is the “heart” of a brand, with the website, events and other brand extensions spiralling away from that core product.
But if you look at the way the magazines are selling, it suggests publishers and readers are no longer on the same page.
I had been warned that the latest figures from the Audit Bureau of Circulation would be a bloodbath. I’d shrugged off the suggestion that it was going to be any worse than usual – the publication of circulation figures has been a pain point for publishers for a long time.
It would be great if there actually is a digital alternative that could be monetised. Publishers all over the world are trying to find it.
But in Australia, ignoring the advertising revenue issue, the challenge will surely be whether people will continue to pay for a local digital version of an international brand when a subscription to the mother title, with likely greater editorial resources and bigger budgets, is cheaper to buy and available through the ITunes Store?
ABC audits show massive drops,
yet CAB audits remain steady or increase.
Amazing!
It should also be noted that Digital paid subs have grown from a tiny 0.9% of TOTAL Sales 2015 to a tiny 1.2% of Total Sales in 2016.
Even PRINT Subscriptions are larger than that – yet all we talk about is digital. If Publishers looked at investing in Print Subscriptions marketing (as some do), they may start seeing some interesting results.
Agreed. Year after year digital fails to monetise. It’s time to rethink and invest in print before it disappears, instead of hatcheting it to death.
No one wants to pay for content and traditional print will never again see the revenue they once did. Facebook and Google will be the gateway to most content and will be enjoy the lions share of revenue. Media that was once great will get the scraps.
I’ll never understand why publishers don’t just drop the prices of mags. Cosmo UK just dropped their cover price to one pound, and saw a huge increase in circ – they’ve now overtaken their nearest competitor, Glamour, which they haven’t done in years. It’s not rocket science.
easy to say in a country with 80m potential readers, all densely-populated (relative to Oz). If mags here had cover price of $1 (or $2) they’d be losing a truckload just to print and distribute them.
Why would I buy a celebrity magazine / Outdoor magazine / Music Magazine (enter further genres here), when I can follow celebrities, adventurers, et al on a variety of social channels, blogs, YouTube and their own websites?
love to know the media schedules these self appointed keyboard gurus are recommending to their clients…oh that’s right, they are all programmatic and pretty soon jobs in media will be simply that…better to get off the digital only path and help circulation out i’d say…nothing like a $20K page to help pay the wages…
Keep putting Sam Armitage on covers, great way to go out of business
The key to any business is monetization. If you aren’t making money in print get out of print. If you’re selling ads and/or selling print copies and making a profit than do that. It’s business 101 folks – there is no right or wrong way. Just choose a way that works for your niche content….and make money.
Sometime I feel like a dinosaur (at the age of 26) that I still spend my money on magazines and enjoy them – I like long form journalism in a way reading online doesn’t replicate. Having said that, the magazine I choose to buy are magazines like Womankind, Wellbeing magazine, Frankie, Money and Healthy Food Guide – magazines that are more niche or stand out from the crowd. I can’t imagine spending money on the gossip rags where everything they write can be found on gossip blogs or Youtube. These titles are already irrelevant, I’ve also started to feel the bi-monthly mags have an advantage over the monthlies. I have a subscription to Money magazine and often find I haven’t finished reading one issue before I’m sent another one – I can see why publications that have gone bi-monthly are seeing positive results, not only does the reader have more time to read each issue (maybe more difficult these days with the overwhelming amount of content they get through every day via the internet), this also means a better quality issue and less re-hashing of content.
No one talks about Affiliate Marketing in this country, but it is the ultimate solution for monetizing content. Working on a CPA basis keeps merchants happy (only paying for conversions), and keeps content producers accountable for the results they are driving for advertisers.
Niche magazines, small print runs, and different and interesting content are what people are looking for. Readers are fed up with the homgenisation of content; they want something that is relevant to them, because they are different. Goodbye hyperlocal and hello microlocal. So goodbye to the glossies and hello to Womankind and similar. It is taking a while for it to sink in with the big name brands, though.
Susan, you’re one of the few that know what they’re talking about. Publishers can’t get off the drug of the mass title ad page while the world remains very happy to buy and read magazines in genres despite what “But Really” thinks. Try tracking the trends of magazines in niches, TV shows, retail categories, etc in genre’s/trends and you’ll find interesting revelations.
Then there is the migration to digital. Very hard to find someone that can articulate the role a magazine brand online can play without making it a magazine online…hard to understand…that’s my point.
Might need to throw the bath out with the bath water to save the baby. We all like to shower now anyway…try understand why.