Magazines to Watch Introduction Part I

Oct 13, 2008

Download the AdweekMedia/SRDS Magazines to Watch section here (PDF)


When the Goliaths of the magazine world are struggling with declining circulation and advertising pages, how do the Davids compete?

    "Smaller magazines have assets that stand them in pretty good stead in these tough economic times," says Nina Link, president and CEO of the Magazine Publishers of America (MPA). Among their advantages: powerful connection to their audiences, strong endemic advertising, multiple revenue streams, and the fact that these titles are circulation-driven and tend to run efficiently.

    "Whether it's fishing, skiing, crocheting-you name the category-the community is hungry for communication," says Link. "People are not giving up these publications easily."

    All these attributes make smaller titles nimble, ready to innovate with new ad programs or digital initiatives that meet the needs of advertisers. While big media groups such as Time Inc., Meredith, Hearst and Condé Nast have an arsenal of magazines in their stables, ready to offer creative, integrated group buys, it can often take months of negotiation by several salespeople to close the deal. Smaller magazines, working on a less grand scale, can zig when a client wants to go one way and zag when that client changes his mind.

    That's also appealing from the media buyer perspective. "You [have] great cooperation from the [smaller] publications," says Mike McHale, co-founder and chief media officer of Montville, N.J.- based Cleverworks LLC, a media buying agency. "The independent guy always tries his hardest."

    Smaller publishers are more likely to be able to tailor a buy to the client's specific needs or launch a new venture or partnership that strengthens its audience connection. For example, Audubon, a 120-year-old title whose readers are members of the Audubon Society, wanted to lower the median age-52-of its readership.

    "I realized Audubonhas great family programs and camps, and we didn't do much in the magazine to promote family activities," says publisher Greg Licciardi. "I suggested to Scholastic's Parent & Child that we team up to do a supplement that would connect families and nature."

    Just two months later, "At Home in the Great Outdoors: A Family Guide" ran in both magazines, giving advertisers a 1.3 million-reader bump for Audubon, which has a membership of 400,000. The supplement ran in the May/June issue of Audubon and the June issue of Parent & Child. According to Licciardi, the supplement generated close to $100,000 of ad revenue for Scholastic and $70,000 for Audubon.

    
Speed and agility made the partnership possible, says Parent & Child publisher Risa Crandall. "I've worked with bigger companies, and it's complicated; everything is siloed," says Crandall. "The clients get confusing messages when you've got several salespeople" making pitches for print, Web and digital. "In the case of a smaller publication," she contends, "there is one point of contact, and there is no confusion… We can give media buyers what they want, instead of what we have."


For more AdweekMedia/SRDS Magazines to Watch coverage:
Magazines to Watch Introduction Part I
Magazines to Watch Introduction Part II