We’ve all seen the numbers. Still, they’re hard to fathom.
Advertising pages for consumer magazines plummeted 28 percent during the first half of the year, representing roughly $2.5 billion in lost revenue. Of the 243 magazines tracked by the Publishers Information Bureau, just 12 managed to increase their ad pages.
The beating continued at the newsstand. Single copy sales slid 12.1 percent during the first half, according to the Audit Bureau of Circulations. Just 93 of the 700-plus magazines tracked by ABC managed to increase their newsstand draw. (Among the top 25 titles in terms of paid circulation, only Time did.)
The magazine industry has been brutalized by the recession, and by that evil foe of all things Old Media: the web. According to a recent survey conducted by ABC, one in four magazine publishers don’t believe that their publication will be available in a print form five years from now.
And when a publishing powerhouse like Condé Nast says it needs to fold four magazines and lay off 180 employees -- like it did earlier this week -- it’s dumping fuel on an already raging fire.
But the magazine industry isn’t quite buried just yet. Here are some things that can, at worst, prolong the inevitable. And maybe, just maybe, with a little luck, save an industry staring down its maker.
1. CREATE A NETFLIX FOR MAGAZINES
Four years ago, an executive at a magazine conference let slip that he was working on a subscription-based project similar in concept to Netflix, where consumers could select specific issues of different magazines they wanted without committing to a full year of them.
The idea is genius: One month, you might want Sports Illustrated’s swimsuit issue or baseball preview; the next, maybe it's Vogue. Or Wired. Or Guns & Ammo.
That project turned out to be Maghound, which Time Inc. launched last September. The membership pricing is tiered -- three titles for $4.95 a month, five for $7.95, seven for $9.95, and $1 per title for eight titles or more.
The problem is, has your Mom heard about “Maghound”? Didn’t think so. While Netflix has built its business around deep selection and nimble word-of-mouth and web-based marketing, the executives behind Maghound are lagging sorely behind.
Maybe it’s the goofy name. Or maybe it's the fact that Maghound launched with just 240 available titles, most from Time Inc., just a few -- like Men’s Health, Elle, Martha Stewart Living and Maxim – from outside the mega-publisher’s stable.
It’s time to mag up and figure this out. Or perhaps just partner with Netflix itself.
Hey, it worked for the videogame industry.
2. OPEN MAGAZINE COVERS TO ADS
Newspapers have done it. Television has done it. Why not magazines?
Some publishers have already gotten their toes wet, however slyly, and I’m not just talking about Esquire’s
