Jan-June 2006 ABCs: a media buyer’s view

I, like all of us in the wonderful world of media, am the lucky recipient of an awful lot of post, be it invites, helium balloons, breakfast cereals, bottles of wine or heavens above, a letter. And that’s only a taster of my conventional in tray. As for my virtual inbox, I can rarely send anything as a result of the constant influx of emails. But, if there is one thing recently that has swelled the size of the company post bags more than anything else, it’s the increase in the number of magazines that wing their way to me.

I can read as many articles as I like about the boom in magazines sales and scan fantastic statistics about how many new titles have launched. But, what has finally made me realise what a good state the magazine market place is currently in, is not the pontificating of an over zealous industry type, or an email alert. It’s the length of time it takes me to rip open the cellophane and pile up the newest crop of weekly magazines that are piling up on my desk, under my desk and all over my lounge floor!

And I, for one, absolutely love it! Whilst that’s obviously a shameless reference to one of the newest titles to hit the newsstand, it is true. I’m a magaholic, who can think of no better way to spend my travelling time, my ‘me time’ or my ‘I’m dozing off’ time, than pawing through the pages of my most recent copy of all manner of magazines.

I’m not the only one who should be chuffed to bits about the increase in the number of magazines out there. It is fantastic news for publishers, buyers and clients alike. Because more magazines equals more revenue streams, tighter targeting and more cost efficient schedules, more media choice for consumers and clients alike. The only people who should be rueing this invasion are the post room staff!

More titles, smaller circulations

The main result of the increase in titles on the newsstand, is that title by title we are seeing magazines posting circulation declines. This is certainly the overriding trend that we have seen over the latest ABC audit. But I don’t think that this spells doom and gloom at all. Whilst it’s true that press buyers may immediately sharpen the knives and prepare to devour ratecards, media owners ought to not be too downhearted. Times are certainly changing, but not necessarily for the worse. Yes, some titles will close, and yes, publishers may not be able to charge quite as much for a display page as they may have done in the past. However, the case for using magazines is growing stronger every day, sector by sector, and a compelling argument for magazines can only equal more advertisers, new advertisers, spending money, and that’s got to be something that we’re all happy about, on both sides of the fence. Market by market, we can see trends emerging in what readers want, and by recognising these we will be even better equipped to navigate through what I firmly believe is a golden new age for magazines.

Women’s weeklies

The most vibrant market at present is responsible for delivering more and more on a weekly basis. The women’s weekly market, that five years ago boasted 16 titles in four mini sectors, has nearly doubled in number across eight different genres. It saw sales rise by over quarter of a million to 9.3 million sales in the UK alone, an increase of nearly 7% year on year. Of the 50 top selling consumer magazines, 20 of them are women’s weeklies. The story of this sector illustrates perfectly the trend across magazines as a whole, where the influx of new titles has triggered circulation decline in the majority of titles. However, given that more titles equals more sales in total, we have to thank this market for luring more readers to magazines.

Modernisation seems to be the name of the game, as it is the youngest, most vibrant titles that are attracting consumers. Pink and yellow are the colours de jour at present, replacing the red and white of the classic trailblazers of yesteryear. In this marketplace, the front cover is crucial given that the majority of sales are off the shelf as opposed to via subscription, but it is more than just lurid covers that are luring readers. The strongest titles at present are the ones that are investing not only in high quality glossy paper, but on editorial with celebrity columnists, exclusive stories, and extensive marketing budgets.

Closer, one of the hybrid ‘realebrity’ titles has overtaken the purely celeb titles Heat, Now and OK! which have previously topped the circulation tables. Closer still has a long way to go before it reaches Take a Break, which is still being bought by over one million people every week, but there can be no doubt that it has tapped into a winning formula and marketed it well.

Traditionally not a force in the weekly marketplace, Emap took a few years to get Heat right, but now feel so confident that they know what women are after on a weekly basis that they have invested millions of pounds researching and launching an additional three weekly titles in the past three years. They also branched out and, along with IPC, created a whole new market with the invention of the weekly ‘lads mag’ Zoo.

The newest breed of weeklies all owe a huge debt to their more established classic and real life equivalents who, in turn, should now be thanking the new kids on the block. Although there can be no doubt that as these magazines get older, so are their readers, none of the newest crop would exist unless the women had gotten into the weekly habit that classic titles created. These are trusted household brands which won’t ever sell as many copies as they used to, but now don’t have to cater to such a big a demographic as they had to in the past.

Tighter segmentation

By knowing who their readers are, and being able to tailor their editorial proposition to a specific type of person, every magazine in this sector will be able to have an even closer relationship with which every type of reader they appeal to. A young single girl, a working mum, or a grandmother have a range of tastes, and in the past many of these magazines have tried to be all things to all of these types of women. Certain things are not mutually exclusive. Regardless of age or life stage, women will always be interested in celebs and real life. This explains why the hybrid titles are flourishing, but it also leaves the classics to focus on what they do best. Family issues, health and fashion are all areas that immediately segment women; what will be right for the grandmas won’t be right for their daughters and grand daughters, so this segmentation has offered titles a real chance to monopolise on their strengths. By getting their editorial just right for a smaller group of women, the trust that women have in their magazines will only increase. Print is already seen as the most trusted of media channels. By showing how different titles are now tailoring their products even more, knowing exactly who they are for, magazines have a great opportunity to convince even more advertisers of their worth.

Impact on monthlies

The success of new launches into the weekly marketplace also appears to have had an impact on the monthly sector. Predominantly, there was decline in this audit across the women’s monthlies. One area that did see growth was fashion titles, all of which posted year on year increases. Could it be that the weekly fashion magazine Grazia, which posted a debut ABC of 173k UK actively purchased sales, has whet women’s appetites for the fashion world and triggered a revival for the likes of Vogue and Vanity Fair?

The new monthly titles obviously helped to minimise the decline in sales overall, but the two new launches delivered relatively small numbers. This is only to be expected, given that Happy and Psychologies were created with niche editorial propositions in mind, shopping and spiritual well being respectively. It is unlikely that the huge launch circulations, like once seen with Glamour, will be replicated in this sector in years to come. As long as smaller titles continue to come into the market, and titles that have seen decline take note and capitalise on delivering the right things to their readers, we must feel positive about an era of segmentation.

Men’s market

Certainly, some markets have reacted in different ways to the dilution of readers across a broader range of titles. The men’s market did see overall decline, when perhaps it was hoped that the weeklies would bolster the figures, but we have to remember that this is a much younger sector than its female equivalent. It will take time for these titles to find their footing alongside each other. Some commentators have cited the salacious nature of both Zoo and Nuts as having ‘dumbed down’ the market. In actual fact what they have done is allow men to find and read a magazine that caters for whatever they desire. That might be semi clad ladies, but equally they might be turned on by the latest hi tech reviews of gadgets in Stuff, or fitness tips in Men’s Health. Like their female counterparts, success appears to be coming for those titles that don’t try to be all things to all people. The job of editors is to decide what their readers are interested in, and that is much easier to do now. The benefit for advertisers targeting men is that they now have a much speedier route to market as readership accumulates much quicker in weeklies than in monthlies. There is also the ability to match the subject matter and tone of a campaign much more seamlessly than ever before, another huge plus for magazines.

Press is not the only marketplace to witness fragmentation. All channels are seeing a proliferation of options open up to them. The digital age is certainly responsible in no small part for the advancement of all things niche. The very fact that people can be more self selecting and choose from a vast array of channels on TV, or radio stations means that they will expect the same from all other media. Magazines could be rocked by this development and resistant to change. Thus far, I think the market has demonstrated that it is ably equipped to embrace the digital era and all the benefits it can offer to build on and compliment magazine brands. The development of websites to accompany magazines will help develop brands both on and offline. The benefit of working in partnership across print and digital platforms is something we at MediaCom have already witnessed. That’s why we are already integrating online packages into our press negotiations. The entire press department has undertaken online training from our colleagues in our online division Media.Com to ensure that we can not only offer our clients the best communications plans via magazines, but also enhance those plans online. We will now not only be waiting for the ABC data with baited breath, but also be equally keen to see how many impressions the websites are recording and wanting to track just how readers are navigating from one platform to another.

So it looks like my intray will continue to be deluged with new launches and my inbox littered with mailers from the numerous websites that accompany all my favourite magazines. All of them will continue to remind me daily that magazines are alive and most certainly kicking. I look forward to the next batch of ABCs, including the freshest crop of titles into the market. I just need to diarise some more me time to read them all.