What a buyer needs to know about Are Media and the future of magazines
Low bar: Magazine margins are around half that of other items in newsagencies
It has been over four months since it was revealed that Are Media, Australia’s biggest publisher of magazines, was for sale. Since then there has been scant information about interested parties or how the future of the company would impact the industry.
I started my media career in magazines in the 1980s. That passion for a printed product has survived in the subsequent 40 years.
Although most of my reading is on digital versions, I still frequent newsagent and supermarket magazine racks. Just this past week I lined up (wasn’t much of a queue at the register to be honest) for copies of the ABC Cricket magazine (published under licence by German–owned Next Media), Country Style (still thriving as part of Are Media’s Homes category) and Wheels (now independently published after being divested by Are Media).
In the 1980s, one mecca for magazine consumers was the ground floor of McGills Newsagency in Melbourne. At lunchtime you literally had to wait your turn to get a front row position as crowds browsed the massive range of titles on offer.
