I loved that I found this article because it answered the question I’ve been pondering since Domino went down the drain: “Why do successful publications fold?” Well — according to Jason Fell, and those he interviewed for his article, it’s because publishers are simply devaluing their content and rely far too much on ad revenue to stay afloat.
When publishers stopped focusing on circulation, and its potential to generate solid revenue, they shifted all the weight and responsiblity to advertisers. While this may have been great during a booming economy where the amount of titles proliferated and marketers were happy to splurge their bucks on all kinds of magazines, during a reccession when we know all about how advertisers are cutting back it’s leading to the magazine death toll we have been witnessing.
So what do they have to do to get back on track? Well some people are finding new ways to attract more advertisers, but I think this is simply straining to find a Band-Aid to put on the wound. Even with 3D ads, cross-platform tie-ins, cover ads, and smelly ads the fact is advertisers are just not shelling out the kind of cash they once did. Now the article said that the publishers have to stop devaluing their content by charging (literally) next to nothing for a subscription. I have noticed that now more than ever I am receiving all kinds of crazy subscription offers (e.g. Buy GQ and get Details for free!) and I know they are trying to hook people in with a good offer during a bad money time. However, I have to agree that they are devaluing the content. Publishers have to start trusting that consumers want their content enough to pay a reasonable price for it, and then they can start to rebalance the revenue equation.
