CMDC Media Digest, 2015-2016
CONSUMER MAGAZINES In this digital age of media what are the fortunes of the magazine sector This is a quiet but potent medium which has continued to be prolific in titles and audience segments operating on many fronts with trade shows events and branded extensions into online TV video radio and customized content Yes the old business model of managing the cost of producing and distributing a magazine to enough subscribers to generate a rate base for advertising doesnt work as well as it once did But this medium is not a victim of advanced communications technology It has leveraged strong brands highly adaptable visuals and entertaining items sliding across different platforms with ease and gaining not losing traction with their followers It isnt all wine and roses In recent years magazines have had to fight off newspapers that encroached on their territory with enhanced life fashion and beauty sections to attract the robust womens advertising sector to newspapers At the same time magazines also grew a huge celebrity gossip segment which has been picked off by Twitter and other short attention span websites The news magazine sector was also hit hard by 24 7 online news and the genre has never really recovered its niche However some segments give a lie to the prevailing evidence of loss Witness for example the fashion food and shelter magazines that still produce some of the most awe inspiring fat editions like Vogue U S Special Fall Issue weighing in at five pounds and 615 ad pages Yes those ad pages are down slightly from previous years But the brand which has been in existence since 1892 is operating at full speed Almost 300000 newsstand editions are sold on top of the 12 million subscribers Of course this is a U S illustration but Canada has its own success stories on a different scale For example Food Drinks Holiday Issue weighs in at three pounds and 300 pages Almost 513000 newsstand editions are sold on top of the 18 million readers It would be wrong to say that magazines dont struggle despite a good story to tell They arguably have some of the best informed most knowledgeable sales people who know and love their product and their readers So what is the problem In a programmatic world realtime decision making doesnt lend itself to the tempo of magazine sales That is one problem magazines have that urgently needs a solution Michele Pauchuk President MEC Canada COMMENTARY 136 Media Channels CANADIAN MEDIA DIRECTORS COUNCIL
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