Showing posts with label magazine publishing. Show all posts
Showing posts with label magazine publishing. Show all posts
Tuesday, April 2, 2013
Magzter, Digital Newsstand, Provides Global Digital Distribution
This from Bill Mickey, Editor of FOLIO magazine:
Tuesday, February 26, 2013
Buying and Selling in the Magazine Media World - Inside Numbers and Analytics
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| Magazine Mergers and Acquisitions |
Tonight we will discuss some of the top deals along with the inside numbers (when available), reasons for the sales and/or acquisitions and other pertinent analytics.
This data is provided by FOLIO: magazine:
Top Magazine Media Deals of 2012
The year 2012 opened in dramatic fashion with magazine media-related deals. From Hanley Wood’s recapitalization to the final sell-off the remaining segments of what once was the massive Ziff Davis, 2012 saw its fair share of deals that involved traditional media brands as well as the currently-hot marketing services and digital properties.
In some transactions, where the acquirer bought a brand that included a print title, questions loomed over the print product’s survival. In other cases, magazines were valued assets in a larger multiplatform deal. The majority of deals that we’ve selected as notable for the year, however, were done by strategic buyers. Private equity firms certainly put their money to work, but it was a busy year for strategics, which took advantage of several bargain opportunities.
Property: Hanley WoodBuyer: Oaktree Capital Management, et al.
Date: January 2012
Price: Debt reduction: $440 million down to $80 million
Hanley-Wood received a major financial reprieve through a debt-reduction deal to kick off 2012. In a recapitalization plan, the company reduced its long-term debt of $440 million to $80 million. As a result, Hanley Wood has a new ownership group led by Oaktree Capital Management, which also injected $35 million of capital into the company.
Serving the residential and commercial construction markets, Hanley Wood, considered one of the best-run b-to-b media companies, was hit particularly hard during the economic downturn and has continued to struggle as the housing market has been one of the slowest to recover.
The new ownership group, which also consists of Strategic Value Partners and Tennenbaum Capital Partners, is betting the debt reduction and new capital will give the company some breathing room until the markets improve.
Takeaway: The the debt reduction was a lifesaver for Hanley Wood. The company spent the rest of the year overhauling its executive team as well as the corporate structure, moving digital first and putting that extra capital to work via a set of acquisitions
Property:Allrecipes.com
Buyer: Meredith Corp.
Date: January 2012
Price: $175 million
After putting the property on the block in October 2011, Reader’s Digest Association sold Allrecipes.com and related digital assets to Meredith Corp. for $175 million.
This purchase nearly doubled Meredith Women’s Network audience to 40 million monthly uniques. Allrecipes.com also boasts a younger audience base; Meredith’s current female demographic falls in the mid-forties.
Attracting younger readers to the Meredith portfolio was top of mind for the company. When Meredith bought FamilyFun magazine from Disney earlier in the month, the title’s younger audience (the average FF user is 35 years old) was considered a key factor.
The site moved into Meredith’s food portfolio, which included another recently acquired RDA title, Every Day With Rachael Ray, as well as newly added Recipes.com and EatingWell Media Group.
Takeaway: The deal was an instant audience multiplier for Meredith, which doubled its digital readers
Property: Ziff Davis EnterpriseBuyer: QuinStreet
Date: February 2012
Price: Undisclosed
In a bit of a head-scratcher, Ziff Davis Enterprise, one-half of what remained of one of the most storied companies in the history of publishing, was sold to QuinStreet, a publicly-traded lead-generation marketing company based in Foster City, California.
The way the deal was structured, QuinStreet acquired the brand assets, not the people. Accordingly, there was a significant round of layoffs associate with the deal. As many as 30 people were let go immediately and in the following weeks, a total of 100 ZDE employees would be cut from a workforce of 120 people.
“Both companies are committed to doing right by their customers and there’s obviously a lot of business in transit that can’t just be chucked over the wall to QuinStreet,” said a source. “It’s kind of a funny deal, initially there were a lot of folks who were not brought on board to QuinStreet but are continuing to be Ziff Davis Enterprise employees with various responsibilities for facilitating the transition.”
Takeaway: The deal signaled the attractiveness strong brands have as lead-gen vehicles, which was presumably why QuinStreet made the purchase. However, the longevity of that brand strength was questioned when many of the content experts were not carried over to the new owners
Read and learn more
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Monday, March 19, 2012
Magazine Publishing: Biggest Magazine Business Deals in 2011
Digital and print magazines are a bubbling, ever morphing and exciting publishing enterprise! And the M&A (Mergers and Acquisitions) each year gives an insight into the lifeblood and future trends of this vibrant and entertaining industry.
These details from the March, 2012 FOLIO Magazine:
The Top Magazine Industry Deals of 2011
Deals that signaled new directions or tipped the scale on emerging trends.
While not a blockbuster year for magazine media M&A, 2011 did have its share of big deals, as well as some that clearly signaled where publishers were placing their bets on future revenues. While Hearst’s purchase of the Hachette brands was the biggest strictly magazine deal of the year, it was nevertheless a relative anomaly. Straight magazine deals on a large scale were almost non-existent and may become a rarity going forward if some industry observers are proven correct. Instead, e-commerce, events, marketing services and digital deals were more the norm as publishers looked for tuck-ins to create an instant revenue source to shore up a flat advertising market.
Looking back on 2011, our list includes some big deals alongside others that represented significant milestones for some companies and brands, as well as some smaller deals that were noteworthy in their own right or intersected the magazine industry, such as Glam’s purchase of the Ning community platform or AOL’s acquisition of Huffington Post.
Read and learn more about the deals (the deals details [buyers, sellers, prices, etc.] are given as links under the heading 'properties' at end of featured article.
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Tuesday, August 30, 2011
Editors - What they Make in 2011 - Too Much or Not Enough?
There are many different types of editors ... from the wordsmithing, novelist-improving type --> all the way to the magazine management, operational business type (e.g. editor-in-chief, executive editor, senior editor, associate editor, managing editor, etc., ad infinitum!).
This FOLIO Magazine survey reflects the salaries of the latter business type (by category); where, I strongly suspect, the most money is.
From FOLIO by Stefanie Botelho:
2011 Editorial Salary Survey
While all levels of editors are finding themselves with increasing responsibilities and decreasing resources, at least some of those surveyed are seeing relief in their paychecks. However, the editorial categories that experienced monetary gain are certainly earning their dollars.
A vast amount of editors who participated in FOLIO:’s 2011 Editorial Salary Survey, conducted by Readex Research, claimed digital duties added the most to their job descriptions this year. One respondent says, “I am now in charge of managing edit for the iPad, tracking print contributions for our dotcom and repurposing content for our dotcom as well.” In addition to the health of digital products, social media site management is another digital responsibility put under the care of editors surveyed here.
Perhaps in a reflection of these additional responsibilities (or the slowly stabilizing economy), three out of the four geographic regions surveyed experienced a spike in editorial director’s/editor-in-chief’s salary; only the West experienced a drop, polling $83,000 in 2010 and $72,400 in 2011.
Advertising revenue is a major concern for editors in 2011, as a digital answer to decreasing print ad revenue has not yet been cemented. One respondent says of their biggest challenges, “Along with the increased focus on revenue and declining resources, I also have to counter the perception that print is dead.” Another respondent sees building new revenue streams to replace faltering print ad resources as one of the most formidable challenges at their publication.
Overall, respondents to this year’s survey are interested in keeping business viable, maintaining a capable staff and staying relevant in the evolving landscape. Editors find satisfaction in their jobs in a variety of ways through their products and industry. One respondent says, “I value seeing a finished product in my hands, happy readers and friendship in the industry."
SALARY BY CATEGORY: EDITORIAL DIRECTOR/EDITOR-IN-CHIEF
Overall, the editorial director/editor-in-chief sector saw its pay increase in 2011. While there is still a sizeable gap between genders, both female and male editorial executives experienced rises in salaries this year; male editoral directors are up at $99,300 from 2010’s $96,900, and their female counterparts earned $77,600, up from 2010’s $74,200.
Editorial directors in the New York city area saw a fruitful 2011, with their mean salaries up about $10,000 to $108,900. The same group earned a mean of $98,200 in 2010.
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Thursday, January 20, 2011
Who Controls Social Media?
From outside the publisher's world, no one should control social media from my blurred point of view. Speaking just as an outsider (my specialty) and everyday web surfer, I like to think everything "internet" is open and free with no underbelly of strategic plotting behind every damn piece of content to "hook" me into doing something that I probably really don't want to do in the first place.
Just let social media develop naturally and be formed (and, yes, controlled...if there must be any control) by those visiting for their own enjoyment and seeking like-minded folks.
But, realizing that many things (if not all) on the web are free due to a secret source of monetization coming from some damn hidden place, I have to put on my magic pragmatic glasses and peer into the sucky-sucky world of internet control for money, money, money. You know, advertising and marketing...with actual content coming in last most of the time.
So, going undercover inside the publisher's world with my magic glasses, I found some interesting insights into this topic from Matt Kinsman, executive editor at FOLIO magazine...Insight further honed from his attendance at the MPA's (Magazine Publishers of America) Social Media conference yesterday:
For Publishers, Who Are the Gatekeepers of Social Media?
Who gets the keys to the engine, edit, sales or marketing?
Just let social media develop naturally and be formed (and, yes, controlled...if there must be any control) by those visiting for their own enjoyment and seeking like-minded folks.
But, realizing that many things (if not all) on the web are free due to a secret source of monetization coming from some damn hidden place, I have to put on my magic pragmatic glasses and peer into the sucky-sucky world of internet control for money, money, money. You know, advertising and marketing...with actual content coming in last most of the time.
So, going undercover inside the publisher's world with my magic glasses, I found some interesting insights into this topic from Matt Kinsman, executive editor at FOLIO magazine...Insight further honed from his attendance at the MPA's (Magazine Publishers of America) Social Media conference yesterday:
For Publishers, Who Are the Gatekeepers of Social Media?
Who gets the keys to the engine, edit, sales or marketing?
Ten years ago, as the prospect of monetizing Web sites started becoming a reality for publishers, different departments butted heads over prime real estate: editorial wanted it for content; sales wanted it for advertising; marketing wanted it for promotion.
Today, as the emphasis shifts away from publishers serving their audience on their own Web domain into places that are daily destinations (such as Twitter and Facebook), publishers are again faced with the question of who controls what (and it's even more important today because social media offers the chance to directly engage with--or alienate--your audience).
That was a key debate at MPA's Social Media conference yesterday. "Should all stakeholders be given the capability to tweet?" asked Matthew Milner, vice president of social media at Hearst, and moderator of a session called Who Controls Social Media at Your Magazine Brand? "And is the ultimate stakeholder necessarily editorial, or marketing, or could it even be the technology department, which may ultimately own the cost of social media?"
For Time Inc., social media is very much an editorial enterprise (last fall, a survey by The Wrap found that five of the 10 magazines with the most Twitter followers were Time Inc. brands). The publisher even maintains a team dedicated to fine-tuning Twitter captions. "Social platforms can be remade in your own image," said Jim Frederick, managing editor of Time.com and executive editor of Time.
Tuesday, September 7, 2010
75 Yr. Old Yankee Magazine Lives on Subscription $$ Over Ad $$
The venerable old Yankee magazine has always stayed ahead of the power curve and continues to do so in this cluster-muck era in the publishing industry.
Contrary to it's old-fashioned image, Yankee adopted online content way back in the 1990's and was one of the first, if not the first, consumer mag to offer monthly podcasts back in 2000.
James Sullivan of the Boston Globe offers this picturesque account of Yankee magazine:
Yankee Ingenuity
Robb Sagendorph was a classic Yankee. Frugal and self-sufficient, committed to tradition — and more than a little cranky — he personified the New Englander he hoped to reach when he founded Yankee magazine in 1935.
The tall, dour Sagendorph, who died in 1970, wasn’t exactly prone to fits of laughter. Today, however, there is plenty of good cheer in the halls of the old red barn that still houses his magazine, across from town hall and the hilltop flagpole in this picturesque hamlet.
With its September-October issue, Yankee is celebrating its 75th anniversary. More importantly, the staff is buoyed by the feeling that it is better poised than most magazines to weather the publishing industry’s uncertain future.
In contrast to its old-fashioned image, Yankee was an early adopter of online content, way back in the 1990s. For the 75th anniversary year, the magazine has been publishing a favorite feature from its archives on its website every weekday.
And its inverted business model — the magazine has always relied on subscription fees more than advertising dollars — finds it once again ahead of the curve, as others struggle with dwindling ad sales.
Still publishing features on getaways, design, and home cooking, Yankee has moved away from the historic yarns and short fiction that once defined it.
More readers are now browsers than cover-to-cover types, said Jamie Trowbridge, 50, chief executive officer of Yankee Publishing (and Sagendorph’s grandson).
“We’re still literary, but we don’t print literature,’’ he said.
“People are always saying print is dead. In fact, it hasn’t declined much. What is declining is advertising support.’’
Read more http://alturl.com/wukw4
Contrary to it's old-fashioned image, Yankee adopted online content way back in the 1990's and was one of the first, if not the first, consumer mag to offer monthly podcasts back in 2000.
James Sullivan of the Boston Globe offers this picturesque account of Yankee magazine:
Yankee Ingenuity
Robb Sagendorph was a classic Yankee. Frugal and self-sufficient, committed to tradition — and more than a little cranky — he personified the New Englander he hoped to reach when he founded Yankee magazine in 1935.
The tall, dour Sagendorph, who died in 1970, wasn’t exactly prone to fits of laughter. Today, however, there is plenty of good cheer in the halls of the old red barn that still houses his magazine, across from town hall and the hilltop flagpole in this picturesque hamlet.
With its September-October issue, Yankee is celebrating its 75th anniversary. More importantly, the staff is buoyed by the feeling that it is better poised than most magazines to weather the publishing industry’s uncertain future.
In contrast to its old-fashioned image, Yankee was an early adopter of online content, way back in the 1990s. For the 75th anniversary year, the magazine has been publishing a favorite feature from its archives on its website every weekday.
And its inverted business model — the magazine has always relied on subscription fees more than advertising dollars — finds it once again ahead of the curve, as others struggle with dwindling ad sales.
Still publishing features on getaways, design, and home cooking, Yankee has moved away from the historic yarns and short fiction that once defined it.
More readers are now browsers than cover-to-cover types, said Jamie Trowbridge, 50, chief executive officer of Yankee Publishing (and Sagendorph’s grandson).
“We’re still literary, but we don’t print literature,’’ he said.
“People are always saying print is dead. In fact, it hasn’t declined much. What is declining is advertising support.’’
Read more http://alturl.com/wukw4
Thursday, August 19, 2010
What are Shelter Magazines? And Which are Surviving?
Just what are shelter magazines? According to Wikipedia.com 'shelter magazine' is a publishing trade term used to indicate a segment of the U.S. magazine market, designating a periodical publication with an editorial focus on interior design, architecture, home furnishings, and often gardening.
Some examples of shelter mags:
Architectural Digest
Better Homes and Gardens
Country Life in America, 1901-1942.
Country Living
Dwell (magazine)
Desert Magazine
Elle Decor
Garden Design
House Beautiful
Martha Stewart Living
Metropolitan Home
Having established what a shelter mag is and given examples of a few, which ones are surviving in the present chaotic publishing landscape where so many mags have been mowed over like dead weeds?
Jason Fell of FOLIO magazine has the answer with numbers to illustrate (interesting stuff) in the following article:
Over the last several weeks, the editorial leaders at the industry’s top shelter magazines have been playing a game of musical chairs, much like the executives at the big publishing companies that own them. The most recent move came at Condé Nast’s Architectural Digest, where longtime editor Paige Rense Noland retired and was replaced by Margaret Russell, the editor-in-chief of Hachette’s Elle Décor. Michael Boodro, Elle Décor’s executive editor, is serving as acting editor-in-chief.
Elsewhere, Stephen Drucker, who had served as editor-in-chief of Hearst’s House Beautiful, jumped to sister title Town&Country, and was replaced by style director Newell Turner. Hearst’s Veranda named Dara Caponigro, style director at now-defunct Domino, as editor, replacing founding editor Lisa Newsom. And Time Inc.’s Southern Living recently appointed former Cottage Living editor Eleanor Griffin as vice president of brand development.
“These changes mean there’s a ‘wanted-ness’ in the shelter category, both in terms of readership and those who want to work in this category,” says House Beautiful publisher Kate Kelly Smith. “From a business perspective, it may be a challenge to some titles because some advertisers like consistency and any changes mean their brands may not resonate as well.”
In terms of business, now that the big shelter magazine die-off—spurred on by the housing market collapse and pullback in advertising dollars across the publishing industry—appears to have slowed if not stopped altogether, the forecast for the remaining titles seems to be that while the category overall is rebounding, the general market is still lagging. “Some aspects of the category are showing modest rebounding, but more mass-targeted brands are coming back slowly,” says Chris Allen, publisher of Hearst’s Country Living, which targets the shelter lifestyle market.
Meredith’s category monster, Better Homes & Gardens (7.6 million circ) saw ad pages through the first half grow 6.8 percent to 823.92, according to Publishers Information Bureau figures. Percentage-wise, Elle Décor had the best first six months, with ad pages shooting up 15.6 percent to 474.16.
Read more http://alturl.com/6rrg2
Some examples of shelter mags:
Architectural Digest
Better Homes and Gardens
Country Life in America, 1901-1942.
Country Living
Dwell (magazine)
Desert Magazine
Elle Decor
Garden Design
House Beautiful
Martha Stewart Living
Metropolitan Home
Having established what a shelter mag is and given examples of a few, which ones are surviving in the present chaotic publishing landscape where so many mags have been mowed over like dead weeds?
Jason Fell of FOLIO magazine has the answer with numbers to illustrate (interesting stuff) in the following article:
Over the last several weeks, the editorial leaders at the industry’s top shelter magazines have been playing a game of musical chairs, much like the executives at the big publishing companies that own them. The most recent move came at Condé Nast’s Architectural Digest, where longtime editor Paige Rense Noland retired and was replaced by Margaret Russell, the editor-in-chief of Hachette’s Elle Décor. Michael Boodro, Elle Décor’s executive editor, is serving as acting editor-in-chief.
Elsewhere, Stephen Drucker, who had served as editor-in-chief of Hearst’s House Beautiful, jumped to sister title Town&Country, and was replaced by style director Newell Turner. Hearst’s Veranda named Dara Caponigro, style director at now-defunct Domino, as editor, replacing founding editor Lisa Newsom. And Time Inc.’s Southern Living recently appointed former Cottage Living editor Eleanor Griffin as vice president of brand development.
“These changes mean there’s a ‘wanted-ness’ in the shelter category, both in terms of readership and those who want to work in this category,” says House Beautiful publisher Kate Kelly Smith. “From a business perspective, it may be a challenge to some titles because some advertisers like consistency and any changes mean their brands may not resonate as well.”
In terms of business, now that the big shelter magazine die-off—spurred on by the housing market collapse and pullback in advertising dollars across the publishing industry—appears to have slowed if not stopped altogether, the forecast for the remaining titles seems to be that while the category overall is rebounding, the general market is still lagging. “Some aspects of the category are showing modest rebounding, but more mass-targeted brands are coming back slowly,” says Chris Allen, publisher of Hearst’s Country Living, which targets the shelter lifestyle market.
Meredith’s category monster, Better Homes & Gardens (7.6 million circ) saw ad pages through the first half grow 6.8 percent to 823.92, according to Publishers Information Bureau figures. Percentage-wise, Elle Décor had the best first six months, with ad pages shooting up 15.6 percent to 474.16.
Read more http://alturl.com/6rrg2
Tuesday, March 2, 2010
Is Digital Publishing the Same as Instant Coffee?
Is the presnt depressed state of revenue for print magazine publishers due to the recession or new media technology?
I have discussed this from different perspectives in previous posts but will dicsuss it again since I read an interesting take on this subject in the San Francisco News Blog "The Snitch" by Lois Beckett:
'Imagine that you are the head of a American magazine publishing company. You publish Vogue, or Sports Illustrated, or National Geographic. Your ad revenue has plummeted. You have recently shuttered several magazines. The Web sites of your publications are clunky and underdeveloped (most of them use a similar dull template). You know that you need to do something drastic, something that will turn around your business and inspire a new generation of readers.
And so, on a gray Monday morning in San Francisco, you and your fellow magazine-publishing cohorts join together to launch a collaborative effort to save the American magazine -- "Magazines, The Power of Print."
Yes -- you are not going to struggle alone. You are going to bring together the best minds in the business to create a $90 million print advertising campaign. You are going to advertise in your own magazines about how people should keep reading magazines!
To do this, you need a really killer slogan. Something that will galvanize your readers. That will show just how cutting-edge and relevant you are.
"Will the Internet Kill Magazines? Did Instant Coffee Kill Coffee?"
Bingo!'
John's opinion note: Well, at least the above SF News Blog post came up with a smashing slogan! And one that has an element of truth in it.
My thought, however, is the magazine publishing depleted revenue state began slowly as a result of the growing accessibility to the internet, then was exasperated by the imploding economy during the Bush years, but was intensified and experienced a metamorphosis due to the introduction of new media technology such as e-readers and iPads...Strangely enough, this latest technology will also be the salvation and solution to the publishing crisis! This is because the demand for content for the popular media devices has gone through the roof!
As I've said before, when the dust settles around all this new tech, and the industry learns to adapt to new formats and business models, and the newness of e-devices wears off with consumers...the printed word will still have a place in the publishing food-chain (albeit not as the only game in town) simply because people like to escape a f---ing monitor at times, no matter it's size, and curl up with a good book or magazine...Especially in the bathroom, paper just seems warmer somehow...and what if you run out of toilet paper??
I have discussed this from different perspectives in previous posts but will dicsuss it again since I read an interesting take on this subject in the San Francisco News Blog "The Snitch" by Lois Beckett:
'Imagine that you are the head of a American magazine publishing company. You publish Vogue, or Sports Illustrated, or National Geographic. Your ad revenue has plummeted. You have recently shuttered several magazines. The Web sites of your publications are clunky and underdeveloped (most of them use a similar dull template). You know that you need to do something drastic, something that will turn around your business and inspire a new generation of readers.
And so, on a gray Monday morning in San Francisco, you and your fellow magazine-publishing cohorts join together to launch a collaborative effort to save the American magazine -- "Magazines, The Power of Print."
Yes -- you are not going to struggle alone. You are going to bring together the best minds in the business to create a $90 million print advertising campaign. You are going to advertise in your own magazines about how people should keep reading magazines!
To do this, you need a really killer slogan. Something that will galvanize your readers. That will show just how cutting-edge and relevant you are.
"Will the Internet Kill Magazines? Did Instant Coffee Kill Coffee?"
Bingo!'
John's opinion note: Well, at least the above SF News Blog post came up with a smashing slogan! And one that has an element of truth in it.
My thought, however, is the magazine publishing depleted revenue state began slowly as a result of the growing accessibility to the internet, then was exasperated by the imploding economy during the Bush years, but was intensified and experienced a metamorphosis due to the introduction of new media technology such as e-readers and iPads...Strangely enough, this latest technology will also be the salvation and solution to the publishing crisis! This is because the demand for content for the popular media devices has gone through the roof!
As I've said before, when the dust settles around all this new tech, and the industry learns to adapt to new formats and business models, and the newness of e-devices wears off with consumers...the printed word will still have a place in the publishing food-chain (albeit not as the only game in town) simply because people like to escape a f---ing monitor at times, no matter it's size, and curl up with a good book or magazine...Especially in the bathroom, paper just seems warmer somehow...and what if you run out of toilet paper??
Monday, December 21, 2009
Conde Nast, Magazine Publishing Empire, Gets Hacked & Goes To Court
Conde Nast, publisher of established magazines covering fashion, technology, food, and travel, including The New Yorker, Vogue, Glamour, GQ and Wired, has been hacked and had images and future editorial content stolen and published on another publisher's website!
More intrigue and drama in the publishing world!
This from Matthew Lynch of WWD Media:
CONDE NAST SPRINGS A LEAK: As if the year-end newsstand competition weren’t enough, Condé Nast Publications said in court documents Thursday that GQ’s December issue had to contend with a hacker who leaked a large swath of its editorial content before the magazine even hit shelves. In a copyright lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court in Manhattan, the publisher said an unauthorized Web user, which it knows only by his or her Internet protocol address, had accessed the company’s networks in September and copied more than 1,100 files. In November, the anonymous author of the blog FashionZag posted some of the lifted content, including GQ’s five alternate December covers, using a third-party photo-hosting site. Condé Nast’s legal team sent a takedown request to the photo host, which complied. Two days later, however, the publisher said the blog used a different photo service to repost the images along with much of the issue’s “still as yet unpublished editorial ‘well.’”
Lawyers wrote that the subsequent posting was “willfully done by defendants to thumb their noses at Condé Nast…” The company said the second post enabled numerous third parties such as Twitter users and other bloggers to spread the content across the Internet.
According to the suit, the original hacker also copied pages from the December issues of Vogue, Teen Vogue and Lucky. The company said it believes it will be able to discover his or her identity through the course of the suit. It is seeking an injunction, attorney’s fees and unspecified damages from up to five anonymous defendants. A visit to FashionZag Friday revealed the five GQ cover shots were still up, as was a Leighton Meester spread from the issue and Lady Gaga’s December Vogue shoot, though some of the other editorial material described in the suit was gone.
More intrigue and drama in the publishing world!
This from Matthew Lynch of WWD Media:
CONDE NAST SPRINGS A LEAK: As if the year-end newsstand competition weren’t enough, Condé Nast Publications said in court documents Thursday that GQ’s December issue had to contend with a hacker who leaked a large swath of its editorial content before the magazine even hit shelves. In a copyright lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court in Manhattan, the publisher said an unauthorized Web user, which it knows only by his or her Internet protocol address, had accessed the company’s networks in September and copied more than 1,100 files. In November, the anonymous author of the blog FashionZag posted some of the lifted content, including GQ’s five alternate December covers, using a third-party photo-hosting site. Condé Nast’s legal team sent a takedown request to the photo host, which complied. Two days later, however, the publisher said the blog used a different photo service to repost the images along with much of the issue’s “still as yet unpublished editorial ‘well.’”
Lawyers wrote that the subsequent posting was “willfully done by defendants to thumb their noses at Condé Nast…” The company said the second post enabled numerous third parties such as Twitter users and other bloggers to spread the content across the Internet.
According to the suit, the original hacker also copied pages from the December issues of Vogue, Teen Vogue and Lucky. The company said it believes it will be able to discover his or her identity through the course of the suit. It is seeking an injunction, attorney’s fees and unspecified damages from up to five anonymous defendants. A visit to FashionZag Friday revealed the five GQ cover shots were still up, as was a Leighton Meester spread from the issue and Lady Gaga’s December Vogue shoot, though some of the other editorial material described in the suit was gone.
Tuesday, December 15, 2009
Print Magazine Failures Slow Down!
Happy Tuesday to all readers! Hope all are healthy and happy as possible today.
Well, the number of dead tree print magazines that have failed (or "shuttered" in industry talk) in 2009 has fallen off by approximately 200 per year over 2008 and 2007...Going down from 640 to 420 or so.
Could be that print mags have reached some sort of bottom and found new business models and niches that have spurred some success in their survival rates.
Vanessa Voltolina of Folio magazine has the following statistics:
The year that was 2009 is drawing to a close and data from online magazine database MediaFinder.com reports that 428 titles have ceased publication in 2009, through December 14.
While any magazine going out of business isn’t good news, the silver lining is the total number of foldings this year (although anything could technically happen between now and December 31) is down significantly from 2008 (613) and 2007 (643).
But while the number of ceased titles may be fewer than years past, there have also been fewer launches. There were only 275 startups this year versus 335 in 2008. Regional magazines topped the list with 21 launches, including Maine Magazine and B-metro Birmingham.
Regionals, however, also topped the list of shutdowns (34), with titles such Atlanta Life and Denver Living going under. Business magazine shutdowns came in second (16), with casualties including BusinessWeek Small Biz, Condé Nast Portfolio and Fortune Small Business.
The Health category had the second highest number of launches (15), including Scottsdale Health and Natural Awakenings. Food titles came next with 14 new magazines such as Food Network Magazine, Edible Queens, and Sandra Lee Semi-Homemade.
Magazines that ceased publishing early in the year and have since relaunched were not counted as closed, said a MediaFinder spokesperson. But titles like Vibe, which shuttered in June, but has already relaunched, is still counted as shuttered.
Well, the number of dead tree print magazines that have failed (or "shuttered" in industry talk) in 2009 has fallen off by approximately 200 per year over 2008 and 2007...Going down from 640 to 420 or so.
Could be that print mags have reached some sort of bottom and found new business models and niches that have spurred some success in their survival rates.
Vanessa Voltolina of Folio magazine has the following statistics:
The year that was 2009 is drawing to a close and data from online magazine database MediaFinder.com reports that 428 titles have ceased publication in 2009, through December 14.
While any magazine going out of business isn’t good news, the silver lining is the total number of foldings this year (although anything could technically happen between now and December 31) is down significantly from 2008 (613) and 2007 (643).
But while the number of ceased titles may be fewer than years past, there have also been fewer launches. There were only 275 startups this year versus 335 in 2008. Regional magazines topped the list with 21 launches, including Maine Magazine and B-metro Birmingham.
Regionals, however, also topped the list of shutdowns (34), with titles such Atlanta Life and Denver Living going under. Business magazine shutdowns came in second (16), with casualties including BusinessWeek Small Biz, Condé Nast Portfolio and Fortune Small Business.
The Health category had the second highest number of launches (15), including Scottsdale Health and Natural Awakenings. Food titles came next with 14 new magazines such as Food Network Magazine, Edible Queens, and Sandra Lee Semi-Homemade.
Magazines that ceased publishing early in the year and have since relaunched were not counted as closed, said a MediaFinder spokesperson. But titles like Vibe, which shuttered in June, but has already relaunched, is still counted as shuttered.
Sunday, December 13, 2009
Bonnier Corp To Expand Magazine Brands into Book Publishing
Who said all publishers are just surviving at best. Bonnier Corp has gone on offense!
This Swedish publishing company has been doing just the opposite of most publishers these days and has been on a buying rampage goobling up many magazine empires and now a book publishing firm as well!
Folio Magazine's Jason Fell reported on 12 Dec 2009:
Bonnier Corp. has taken another step in its aggressive acquisition plan, only this time not in magazine publishing. The Swedish-owned company said Wednesday that it has acquired Weldon Owen Publishing and will create a book division to manage it.
Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed. Weldon Owen, however, has annual revenues of approximately $20 million.
Bonnier said adding Weldon Owen will allow the company to expand its existing magazine brands and content into book publishing projects. The company said it is considering bookazines, collectible yearbooks and other book products for sale on newsstands and online.
Founded in 1984 in Sydney, Australia, Weldon Owen Publishing develops and publishes illustrated reference, lifestyle and education books and has worked with several specialty retailer clients including Williams-Sonoma and Pottery Barn. It formerly was part of Bonnier Publishing in the U.K.
Bonnier also said it has redesigned its corporate logo as part of a branding effort to align all of the Bonnier company’s worldwide with a similar look.
Bonnier has been on a buying spree over the last 15 months. Most recently, it bought Conceive magazine from its founder and a group of investors. Most notably, Bonnier acquired American Photo, Boating, Flying, Popular Photography and Sound & Vision magazines from Hachette Filipacchi Media U.S. in June.
This Swedish publishing company has been doing just the opposite of most publishers these days and has been on a buying rampage goobling up many magazine empires and now a book publishing firm as well!
Folio Magazine's Jason Fell reported on 12 Dec 2009:
Bonnier Corp. has taken another step in its aggressive acquisition plan, only this time not in magazine publishing. The Swedish-owned company said Wednesday that it has acquired Weldon Owen Publishing and will create a book division to manage it.
Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed. Weldon Owen, however, has annual revenues of approximately $20 million.
Bonnier said adding Weldon Owen will allow the company to expand its existing magazine brands and content into book publishing projects. The company said it is considering bookazines, collectible yearbooks and other book products for sale on newsstands and online.
Founded in 1984 in Sydney, Australia, Weldon Owen Publishing develops and publishes illustrated reference, lifestyle and education books and has worked with several specialty retailer clients including Williams-Sonoma and Pottery Barn. It formerly was part of Bonnier Publishing in the U.K.
Bonnier also said it has redesigned its corporate logo as part of a branding effort to align all of the Bonnier company’s worldwide with a similar look.
Bonnier has been on a buying spree over the last 15 months. Most recently, it bought Conceive magazine from its founder and a group of investors. Most notably, Bonnier acquired American Photo, Boating, Flying, Popular Photography and Sound & Vision magazines from Hachette Filipacchi Media U.S. in June.
Saturday, November 21, 2009
Magazines No Longer the ‘Center of the Universe’
Print advertising profits are declining due to all the new upstarts in digital media. Publishers are having to re-think their place in the media food chain and design new business models to move forward and survive.
More on this topic by Jason Fell in November issue of Folio magazine:
Publisher Survival, especially for those supported mainly by print advertising, was the topic of debate, and some contention, during a Folio: Show Virtual panel discussion last month called “Big Ideas and New Opportunities for 2010 and Beyond.”
“The magazine business, particularly if you’re dominated by print advertising, is going to continue to be no-growth to a declining business—probably forever,” said panelist David Nussbaum, CEO of enthusiast magazine and book publisher F+W Media. Other panelists included Mann Media CEO Bernie Mann; Eric Biener, Nielsen Business Media’s vice president of business development; and Daniel McCarthy, chairman and CEO of Network Communications, Inc.
While some print magazines will survive, publishers “can’t bank on them being the driver” of their business, Nussbaum argued. At F+W, magazine publishing depends largely on subscription and newsstand revenues. “Advertising, which we love and we want, will be gravy on top of that,” he said.
Mann, who publishes North Carolina’s Our State, countered that losses in print don’t pertain to the entire industry. “Trust is very important and is hard to find. How many people trust television today? How many people trust their daily newspapers,” he said. “If you can build trust in magazines, you have some long, long legs.”
Growing Competition
With bloggers and other online publishers are continuing to pop up and take market share, traditional magazine publishers in the future won’t hold sole ownership of the markets they serve, the panelists largely agreed. Publishers now should focus more on core products, the panelists said, and on being “active participants” in the markets they serve.
“I don’t think we’re ever going back to the day when we were the center of the universe. We have to recognize that,” Nussbaum said. “We now are part of the overall community. If we can grasp that role then we can begin to get back to levels of profitability.”
The Paid Content Debate
And, of course, what’s a panel discussion today without talk about charging for content online? “Allowing people to parse out the pieces of content they find valuable, and to make nickels on those pieces on an economy of scale is one of the future models we are looking at for our businesses,” Biener said. “I think micropayments are going to play successfully in the future of media business, specifically content.”
More on this topic by Jason Fell in November issue of Folio magazine:
Publisher Survival, especially for those supported mainly by print advertising, was the topic of debate, and some contention, during a Folio: Show Virtual panel discussion last month called “Big Ideas and New Opportunities for 2010 and Beyond.”
“The magazine business, particularly if you’re dominated by print advertising, is going to continue to be no-growth to a declining business—probably forever,” said panelist David Nussbaum, CEO of enthusiast magazine and book publisher F+W Media. Other panelists included Mann Media CEO Bernie Mann; Eric Biener, Nielsen Business Media’s vice president of business development; and Daniel McCarthy, chairman and CEO of Network Communications, Inc.
While some print magazines will survive, publishers “can’t bank on them being the driver” of their business, Nussbaum argued. At F+W, magazine publishing depends largely on subscription and newsstand revenues. “Advertising, which we love and we want, will be gravy on top of that,” he said.
Mann, who publishes North Carolina’s Our State, countered that losses in print don’t pertain to the entire industry. “Trust is very important and is hard to find. How many people trust television today? How many people trust their daily newspapers,” he said. “If you can build trust in magazines, you have some long, long legs.”
Growing Competition
With bloggers and other online publishers are continuing to pop up and take market share, traditional magazine publishers in the future won’t hold sole ownership of the markets they serve, the panelists largely agreed. Publishers now should focus more on core products, the panelists said, and on being “active participants” in the markets they serve.
“I don’t think we’re ever going back to the day when we were the center of the universe. We have to recognize that,” Nussbaum said. “We now are part of the overall community. If we can grasp that role then we can begin to get back to levels of profitability.”
The Paid Content Debate
And, of course, what’s a panel discussion today without talk about charging for content online? “Allowing people to parse out the pieces of content they find valuable, and to make nickels on those pieces on an economy of scale is one of the future models we are looking at for our businesses,” Biener said. “I think micropayments are going to play successfully in the future of media business, specifically content.”
Thursday, November 19, 2009
Have Publishers Lost the Capacity for Long-Term Planning?
In the panic to survive month to month, many publishers have lost the calmness for long-term planning for lasting growth.
"If you want to save your company, think beyond the next quarter or loan payment." A special treatise today by Joe Pulizzi from Folio magazine:
Joe Pulizzi is founder of Junta42, an online lead generation/matching service for custom publishers. Joe is also co-author of Get Content Get Customers, considered the handbook for content marketing joe@junta42.com
Just a few years ago, all the talk was about implementing the three-legged stool strategy. Dubbed “the holy grail,” a publisher that offered advertisers a robust print, online and in-person solution, packaged together, would win.
The three legs of the stool…the answer to our problems. Publishers with the necessary resources developed the three-legged stool. Others tried new launches.
And now, after many publishers have struggled to make the stool model work, customers are spending their money elsewhere. Who knew there were plenty of other stool legs?
And then there was lead generation. Webinars. Podcasts. Virtual Trade Shows. And now social media. As Ted Bahr so eloquently stated at the Niche Magazine Conference just last April, “beware the fad of the year.”
The Next Big Idea
In FOLIO:’s “Big Idea” article in August, the lead paragraph states, “We all know that the top strategic priority this year isn’t really ‘online,’ or ‘lead gen’ or ‘events,’ it’s flat-out survival. Planning for the future now means the next fiscal quarter, not the next five years.”
This is exactly the problem. We are focused on short-term tactics, not strategy. We are focused on next month’s financials, not how to sustain and build the business for the long-term. A business does not prosper and grow because it can make the next quarter’s financial goals. It survives because it has a long-term vision, plan and strategy that engages all of its employees and resources in building great companies…in winning.
Short-Term vs. Long-Term
Peter Drucker, the great management guru, saw this coming when organizations started to focus less on the customer and more on where the CFO was looking. Corporations (publishers) were now to be managed exclusively to “maximize shareholder’s value.”
“This will not work,” Drucker said. “It forces the corporation to be managed for the shortest term. But that means damaging, if not destroying, the wealth-producing capacity of the business. It means decline, and fairly swift decline. Long-term results cannot be achieved by piling short-term results on short-term results. They should be achieved by balancing short-term and long-term needs and objectives.”
And boy, have we seen decline. And the spiral continues. The more revenue decline, the more focus on short term thinking (exclusively).
Correcting the Course
Changing from a short-term to a balanced short/long-term focus is really hard to do. Here are a few areas that will help you get there.
1. Sales Training. Yes, sales training. This is one of the reasons why publishers like Watt seem to be a step ahead. They have a passion for educating their salespeople, not so they understand how to pitch a product (which is important), but what questions to ask so that they can be better consultants, and form better relationships with their customers. The “advertising space rep” of the past is simply not equipped to succeed in this new, highly complex and varied communication world.
2. Expand the T&E budget. Now, more than ever, we need to see our customers face-to-face. It’s almost impossible to develop a relationship with customers as publishers without seeing them in person. If we want to understand where customers are going, and thus where business is heading, get face time with customers on their turf. It’s a heck of a lot cheaper now than it was at this time last year. When was the last time any of us heard of a publishing CEO visiting his key customers and asking how they were planning for the future?
3. Marketing. What, publishers actually marketing outside their own products? Unheard of in most media companies, but more important than ever, especially when there’s more competition than ever. If your customers are going to see you as their trusted marketing provider you need to be communicating with more than your sales rep. An easy start is a consistent (at least monthly) e-newsletter from your reps to your customers. Tell them how to grow their business, how to market smarter…and they’ll reward you with more business. Practice what you are preaching to your customers.
"If you want to save your company, think beyond the next quarter or loan payment." A special treatise today by Joe Pulizzi from Folio magazine:
Joe Pulizzi is founder of Junta42, an online lead generation/matching service for custom publishers. Joe is also co-author of Get Content Get Customers, considered the handbook for content marketing joe@junta42.com
Just a few years ago, all the talk was about implementing the three-legged stool strategy. Dubbed “the holy grail,” a publisher that offered advertisers a robust print, online and in-person solution, packaged together, would win.
The three legs of the stool…the answer to our problems. Publishers with the necessary resources developed the three-legged stool. Others tried new launches.
And now, after many publishers have struggled to make the stool model work, customers are spending their money elsewhere. Who knew there were plenty of other stool legs?
And then there was lead generation. Webinars. Podcasts. Virtual Trade Shows. And now social media. As Ted Bahr so eloquently stated at the Niche Magazine Conference just last April, “beware the fad of the year.”
The Next Big Idea
In FOLIO:’s “Big Idea” article in August, the lead paragraph states, “We all know that the top strategic priority this year isn’t really ‘online,’ or ‘lead gen’ or ‘events,’ it’s flat-out survival. Planning for the future now means the next fiscal quarter, not the next five years.”
This is exactly the problem. We are focused on short-term tactics, not strategy. We are focused on next month’s financials, not how to sustain and build the business for the long-term. A business does not prosper and grow because it can make the next quarter’s financial goals. It survives because it has a long-term vision, plan and strategy that engages all of its employees and resources in building great companies…in winning.
Short-Term vs. Long-Term
Peter Drucker, the great management guru, saw this coming when organizations started to focus less on the customer and more on where the CFO was looking. Corporations (publishers) were now to be managed exclusively to “maximize shareholder’s value.”
“This will not work,” Drucker said. “It forces the corporation to be managed for the shortest term. But that means damaging, if not destroying, the wealth-producing capacity of the business. It means decline, and fairly swift decline. Long-term results cannot be achieved by piling short-term results on short-term results. They should be achieved by balancing short-term and long-term needs and objectives.”
And boy, have we seen decline. And the spiral continues. The more revenue decline, the more focus on short term thinking (exclusively).
Correcting the Course
Changing from a short-term to a balanced short/long-term focus is really hard to do. Here are a few areas that will help you get there.
1. Sales Training. Yes, sales training. This is one of the reasons why publishers like Watt seem to be a step ahead. They have a passion for educating their salespeople, not so they understand how to pitch a product (which is important), but what questions to ask so that they can be better consultants, and form better relationships with their customers. The “advertising space rep” of the past is simply not equipped to succeed in this new, highly complex and varied communication world.
2. Expand the T&E budget. Now, more than ever, we need to see our customers face-to-face. It’s almost impossible to develop a relationship with customers as publishers without seeing them in person. If we want to understand where customers are going, and thus where business is heading, get face time with customers on their turf. It’s a heck of a lot cheaper now than it was at this time last year. When was the last time any of us heard of a publishing CEO visiting his key customers and asking how they were planning for the future?
3. Marketing. What, publishers actually marketing outside their own products? Unheard of in most media companies, but more important than ever, especially when there’s more competition than ever. If your customers are going to see you as their trusted marketing provider you need to be communicating with more than your sales rep. An easy start is a consistent (at least monthly) e-newsletter from your reps to your customers. Tell them how to grow their business, how to market smarter…and they’ll reward you with more business. Practice what you are preaching to your customers.
Thursday, November 5, 2009
Playboy Publisher Scrambles To Maintain Profits
From Folio magazine by Jason Fell 11/5/2009
Cost Cutting, New Business Model Top Priority for Playboy CEO.
Company reports $23.5 million net loss through first nine months.
In order for the print edition of Playboy magazine to break even or be profitable, “bolder steps are required,” recently-named CEO Scott Flanders said during the company’s third quarter earnings call Thursday morning. The company’s print/digital group reported a $900,000 loss through the first nine months compared to a $3 million loss during the same period in 2008.
Overall, Playboy Enterprises reported a $23.5 million net loss through the third quarter, down from a $13.6 million net loss last year.
During the call, Flanders declined to offer specifics about the “bolder” steps, but said three things are sure: he’s creating a new “corporate culture” that enables his staff to think and perform across divisions; he’s working on a joint venture in the development of a new business model for the company; and is strongly considering further cost cutting initiatives.
Flanders said he expects to announce those developments before the end of the year.
Last month, the company said it would reduce its rate base to 1.5 million from 2.6 million, and will combine its January and February issues into one, meaning it will publish two issues total during the first quarter next year. This summer, Playboy published a singular July/August issue that saved the company roughly $1 million in printing, paper and other costs. Those savings were offset slightly by expected declines in ad and circulation revenues as well as higher editorial costs, Flanders said during the earnings call.
Licensing, meanwhile, remains Playboy’s most profitable business, he said. The division reported a net profit of $15.9 million through the first nine months, down from $19.4 million during the same period last year.
Flanders said he expects to report a 38 percent decline in ad pages during the fourth quarter this year.
Cost Cutting, New Business Model Top Priority for Playboy CEO.
Company reports $23.5 million net loss through first nine months.
In order for the print edition of Playboy magazine to break even or be profitable, “bolder steps are required,” recently-named CEO Scott Flanders said during the company’s third quarter earnings call Thursday morning. The company’s print/digital group reported a $900,000 loss through the first nine months compared to a $3 million loss during the same period in 2008.
Overall, Playboy Enterprises reported a $23.5 million net loss through the third quarter, down from a $13.6 million net loss last year.
During the call, Flanders declined to offer specifics about the “bolder” steps, but said three things are sure: he’s creating a new “corporate culture” that enables his staff to think and perform across divisions; he’s working on a joint venture in the development of a new business model for the company; and is strongly considering further cost cutting initiatives.
Flanders said he expects to announce those developments before the end of the year.
Last month, the company said it would reduce its rate base to 1.5 million from 2.6 million, and will combine its January and February issues into one, meaning it will publish two issues total during the first quarter next year. This summer, Playboy published a singular July/August issue that saved the company roughly $1 million in printing, paper and other costs. Those savings were offset slightly by expected declines in ad and circulation revenues as well as higher editorial costs, Flanders said during the earnings call.
Licensing, meanwhile, remains Playboy’s most profitable business, he said. The division reported a net profit of $15.9 million through the first nine months, down from $19.4 million during the same period last year.
Flanders said he expects to report a 38 percent decline in ad pages during the fourth quarter this year.
Tuesday, October 13, 2009
Frances Jeanne Said:
Thanks, John. I'm sharing with my friend, Nancy, who is consultant to Triple A Auto Clubs magazines. All the mags are suffering!!!
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