The Launch
I’ve seen the future of newspapers – and it’s magazines!
Forget all that expensive investigative journalism and covering the things that some people think matter like foreign wars and the meltdown of the world economy, let’s just lap up the PR guff and produce vacuous, yet pretty, imposters of proper magazines.
The battleground for the magapaper wars is Saturday, which has been the new Sunday for so long it’s now back to being the old Saturday.
Firing the first big guns was the Sun, which launched buzz (complete with annoying lower case ‘b’) in mid-September, combining its long-standing TV mag with a romp through “soap exclusives, celebrity interviews, fashion and beauty”.
Unlike most TV mags, it has proper advertising – L’Oreal (Elvive), Unilever (Cif and Persil), Ford (Fiesta), Specsavers, LG, GSK (Ribena), Nestle (Kit Kat) were in the launch issue – that shows the big brands can come out to play if the product is right. Of course, we don’t know what revenue is attached to them, but in terms of the overall product, the advertising certainly contributes to the overall classy effect.
The larger format (a sort of half-Berliner rather than a half-tabloid) gives the designers more than 20 per cent more page area to play with. They don’t disappoint with big, bold picture displays and space to do justice to fashion and beauty.
Up against it, the Daily Mirror’s We Love Telly is six years old and looking every day of it. Their low-grade paper doesn’t help and although it has more ads than you might expect, they are of the half-price showerproof Mac and the Tena Lady free sample variety.
Trinity Mirror has just dispatched some of the long-serving staff in one of their regular culls, so perhaps there are some changes afoot in response.
Neil Jones, commercial director at News International, is quick to sing the virtues of the new magazine. “We’re delighted with the response we’ve had from both advertisers and agencies. I think the quality of the product speaks for itself; from the strength of the editorial to its premium paper stock.
“Strong brand advertising with mail order advertising towards the back of the book, all attracted by the Sun’s circulation of 3.5 million and readership of 7 million. Research tells us 4.6 million of those readers read no other weekly magazine. This is a great vehicle for advertisers.”
On the bridge of the new starship for News International is Jane Johnson, the Sun’s associate editor who previously launched mass-market women’s mag Closer and News of the World’s Fabulous magazine.
At launch, Johnson said: “Buzz will bring our readers the very best in British TV entertainment in a modern and exciting format.
“We’ll feature a unique take on all the top shows from X Factor to Emmerdale, from the Apprentice to the Inbetweeners.
“Plus, Buzz will be shopping heaven - our lifestyle pages will be filled with what’s new in fashion, beauty, home and food. If it’s hot, you can be sure it’ll be in Buzz!”
So now we know.
The Feedback
But how has it all gone down in the murky world of readerland? Away from the glam and glitz of launch parties (Vic Reeves and that annoying Louie bloke no less!) and tie-in perfumes, the loyal reader, via the liberating medium of the online forum, has plenty to say:
Mrs Singleton: “We will no longer be buying the Sun because the new magazine buzz is rubbish. It’s too busy. The TV guide seems to be put on the back burner in favour of third-rate celebrities and fashion. Bring back the old TV mag.”
Eddie James: “Why change the best TV guide around into just another so-so celebrity rag? There is no comparison between the old guide and this compressed version. Some things just shouldn’t be altered for the sake of it.”
Bill: “The new Saturday magazine isn’t a patch on the TV mag. A bad call by the Sun here. Seems a bit daft putting what is clearly a women’s lifestyle magazine in a paper which has a predominantly male readership. Buzz will be going straight in the bin.”
Margaret: “This new mag is awful. It’s too big, the print is too small and very hard to understand. It’s rubbish, so I’ve cancelled the Sun. Buzz off.”
Barbara: “This new Saturday magazine is rubbish. The TV mag had 60 TV channels in it; this has 33 TV channels. Old folk buy this paper for the TV mag, so they don’t have to buy a book solely for TV. The older generation are your readers. Ditch buzz or we will be ditching you. TV mag was the best out of all the papers.”
Pat Kirkby: “I am really disappointed with Buzz - The New Sat Sun Magazine & TV Guide. The previous TV Guide was the BEST ONE to be offered by all the newspapers - it was also much clearer / easier to use too. I would rather pay 20p / 30p for my copy of the Saturday Sun and put the difference towards a copy of What’s On TV!! Incidentally, I don’t like the new format News of the World magazine either!!”
Carol Connor: “This new mag is not a patch on the old one and I agree about the amount of channel info given. My father, who is 84 years old, went out of his way every Saturday to get the Sun for the TV mag. He says he will not be buying it again and for myself I bought the Sun on Saturday just for the mag too. I would rather ditch the paper now and buy What’s on TV. So as far as we are concerned, the Buzz mag can Buzz off.”
Some disgruntled readers went one stage further and rather than just gather together for warmth around the roasting fire of the chatrooms, contacted the Sun with their views. K Saint emailed this salvo about what he called “this horrendous new magazine”:
“I would like to complain about the new TV mag, called Buzz, which came with my issue of the Sun today. Why have you changed a magazine which everybody loved into this hybrid magazine of celebrity interviews and a reduced coverage of TV info?
“My wife and I have been reading your newspaper for over 30 years. We look forward to Saturday’s issue the most as it used to contain a very good TV magazine which covered, in depth, the following week’s TV. This TV mag also concentrated on just TV related themes.
“I now find this magazine has been replaced by a magazine which is cheap, tacky and a whole lot inferior to your previous mag.
“This new mag is far too big and bulky. About half of this mag is filled up with what I can only call crass mumbo jumbo about so-called celebrities. I, for one, have no interest in reading about celebrities! I only want a TV mag which covers just that, TV.
“Unfortunately, while this new TV mag will continue to be in my much loved Saturday Sun, I (a committed buyer of this paper for over 30 years) will be buying a different newspaper which contains just what I want, which is a magazine concentrating solely on the following week’s TV.”
The Response
Customer service whirred into life with this stock response:
Many thanks for taking the time and trouble to write to us to let us know what you think of Buzz.
We will bear your comments in mind as we continue to evolve.
Please do let us know if you have any further comments or suggestions.
Kind regards,
Sun Online Executive
But as the reader feedback gained momentum, so did the quality of response. One reader received this reply from the top, no less:
Hello,
Thank you for your comments on the Sun’s new buzz magazine. We welcome feedback from our loyal readers, and your opinions are important to us.
I understand that saying goodbye to your much-loved TV Mag is not easy, but our aim is to bring you a bigger and better magazine offering celebrity interviews, opinion columns and lifestyle pages including fashion, food, beauty, home and recipes, as well as TV listings.
The new layout of TV listings is different from TV Mag, but I can assure you that our goal is to provide clear, simple and informative listings and previews. We are aware that certain channels are not featured in the new listings pages. We made a decision to bring you a wider variety of overall content, and to do this we have had to lose some channels.
I appreciate that you want something different to other celebrity magazines, and buzz aims to do this. We felt that it was important not just to revamp the TV listings section but bring our readers exciting new content. This new content combined with our extensive TV listings will provide a recipe that separates buzz from other Saturday supplements and weekly magazines.
Thank you once again for taking the time and trouble to provide us with your valuable feedback.
Sincerely,
Jane Johnson
Associate Editor
buzz
The Sun
The Lessons
Let’s applaud the Sun for having a crack at this notoriously difficult area, but there are some important lessons to be learned for would-be revampers:
* Stay Loyal
Upset your loyal readers at your peril. Younger, more modern, sexier readers with more money to spend might be what advertisers want, but if the older established buyers start to drift off, the mass market model is in trouble.
* Be Straightforward
Small type and jumbly design are always top of reader gripes. With something as straightforward as a listings mag, concentrate on getting the basics right.
* Keep On Target
Watching TV is still the main leisure diversion in the UK, especially for the ‘socially disadvantaged’ – those people who can’t or won’t get out, like the old, the poor, the out of work and the lazy. They loved their ‘free’ TV magazine because it did what it said on the cover.
