New Magazine Launches Decline for Second Straight Year

Just how many were launched in 2008? 

It depends who you ask.

By Dylan Stableford

Folio Magazine 

http://www.foliomag.com/2008/new-magazine-launches

There were 335 new magazines launched in 2008.

There also have been 634 new magazines launched in 2008.

Or, there were 191 new magazine launches announced in 2008.

Exactly how many, it seems, depends on who's counting.

According to MediaFinder.com─an online database of U.S. and Canadian magazines-335 were launched in 2008, with health titles accounting for 31 of them. There were 389 new titles launched last year, according to the site.

According to University of Mississippi professor Samir "Mr. Magazine" Husni, 634 new magazines launched through November. The "hot categories," Husni said, continue to be "crafts, homes, metro and sports-same as last year."

In the last four months, he said, there has been somewhat of a surge in launch activity.

But Husni, who tracks launches monthly on his Web site, noted that the number of magazines published with a frequency of four or more is 191, down from 233 during the same period in 2007. (Husni stressed he only counts consumer titles and only the ones he has physical copies of, in hand.)

From 'WSJ.' to Beer

According to the Magazine Publishers of America's "New & Noted" setion of its Web site, there were 191 magazine launches-with titles ranging from the Wall Street Journal's 'WSJ.' to Beer-announced in 2008, down from 271 in 2007.

If there's a number everyone can agree on, however, it's that print magazine launches are, not surprisingly, on the decline.

Between January and November 2006, there were 842 magazine launches by Husni's count, and 636 during the same period in 2007.

According to MediaFinder, the second "hottest" category was regional, with 24 new titles-such as Michigan avenue cropping up in '08. (Although regional was also one of the biggest decliners, down from 42 new launches a year ago.)

Despite the downturn in the economy, magazines serving health, regional, and food interests continued to show growth, "as there continues to be interest in topics close to home," said Trish Hagood, president of Oxbridge Communications, which publishes MediaFinder.com.

Noted Husni: "A lot of the new titles are being published twice or three times a year for some reason."

BoSacks Speaks Out: ASME Sets New Edit-Ad Guidelines

BoSacks Speaks Out; As the article suggests, the jury is still out on whether ASME will tighten or loosen the rules for keeping ads and edit apart.

Here is a firm promise and a prediction from BoSacks: if they loosen the rules, I will go editorially and ferociously ballistic. The industry has been on the edge of having or not having integrity for years. If the American Society of Magazine Editors takes the low road and decides that honor and integrity need have no place in the magazine industry, then they will surely reap what they sow.

There are reasons for the separation of church and state in both government and publishing. Integrity is a simple thing, and I make it a practice not to do business with those to whom integrity is a missing component. It's a simple rule and one that the public understands as well. It seems that the various divisions of our beloved industry each has their own nail for the coffin of our demise.

What do you think? Should we loosen the rules? Should we at last finally become known as advertorial media?


I ran the wrong kind of business, but I did it with integrity.
Sydney Biddle Barrows, ''Mayflower Madam' Tells All,' Boston Globe, 1986

Mag Bag: ASME Sets New Edit-Ad Guidelines
by Erik Sass,
http://www.mediapost.com/publications/?fa=Articles.san&s=95213&Nid=49647&p=263991


The American Society of Magazine Editors is tweaking the rulebook for keeping edit and ad content separate, according to a story in Adweek earlier this week. The new rules should be ready for approval by ASME's board by the middle of next year.


The exact substance of the changes--stricter or looser standards--is unclear. On the one hand, ASME's current chief executive Sid Holt conceded: "We've had situations where we've seen violations of the spirit of the guidelines, but not the guidelines themselves"--seeming to suggest that new stringency is in order. On the other hand, "we want them to be more industry-friendly in that they make sense to editors and advertisers alike."

So what "makes sense"? If recent moves by ASME members are anything to judge by, the new guidelines will loosen restrictions on integration of advertising into magazine cover art and headlines. This is one area where advertisers have been especially aggressive with their demands for more mingling of advertising and editorial content.

For example, the September issue of Esquire featured a blinking, flashing electronic display designed by E-ink and sponsored by Ford, although Ford was not mentioned on the cover. The high-profile cover led directly to a Ford ad spread in the front of the magazine that takes credit for the innovative front. The August 10 issue of The New York Times Magazine came with a cover wrap purchased by U.S. Trust, Bank of America's private-wealth management division, to promote its philanthropic financial products.

Last December, New York magazine sold a four-page cover wrap to the New Museum. Last year, Harper's Bazaar delivered 5,000 VIP copies that came embedded with "crystals"--courtesy of Swarovski, also an advertiser. In 2005, The New Yorker produced a single-sponsor issue for Target that incorporated the Target logo's distinctive red-and-white coloring on the cover as well as inside the magazine.

Requests for integration are attractive to magazines, given the drop in ad revenue. Through November, total ad pages are down 8.5% at over 200 weekly and monthly titles tracked by MIN Online.

Mag Sag: Readership Growing Older

"The great thing about getting older is that you don't lose all the other ages you've been."

Unknown


Mag Sag: Readership Growing Older
by Erik Sass
http://publications.mediapost.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=Articles.san&s=60955&Nid=30756&p=93409

THE MEDIAN AGE OF MAGAZINE readers continued to creep upward in the last five years, according to annual surveys from Mediamark Research Inc. On average, a collection of more than 90 popular magazines in a variety of categories saw the median age of their readers increase two years, from 39.8 to 41.8, between spring 2002 and 2007.
Catering to an ad industry that is often focused on youth, magazine publishers might counter that two years isn't a big deal. What's more, median figures aren't "averages" in the traditional sense, but simply the midpoint of a group of data points. However, the two-year figure did outpace the population at large, where the median age increased 1.3 years from 43.4 to 44.7.

And while the trend isn't universal, it does affect many of the leading titles when it comes to targeting certain ad sectors. It also accounts for the baby-boomer population, especially the younger end, heading into their mid- to-late 40s.

MRI presents median-age data broken down by gender, as well as overall totals, allowing a more meaningful analysis of magazines with gender-specific appeal. For example, the median age of Consumer Reports' male audience--representing about 70% of its 4.3 million readers--rose three years from 46.1 in spring 2003 to 49.1 in spring 2007. Meanwhile, the median age of Men's Health's male audience rose 2.2 from 2002-2007, from 35.8 to 38, as Men's Journal rose 5.7 years from 33.8 to 39.5. Golf Digest's median male age rose 4.3 years to 48.5, as Esquire's jumped five years to 43.

These magazines are indicative of a broader trend that also saw the median age of male readership rise one to two years at Rolling Stone, Popular Mechanics, Popular Science, Outside, Outdoor Life, and Men's Fitness. Auto enthusiast titles, which generally target men, also experienced gains--with Automobile jumping 4.1 years, Car and Driver 3.3 years, Hot Rod 2.1 years, Motor Trend 3.8 years, and Road & Track 3.4 years.

Titles on the other side of the gender divide have also experienced an upward trend, including fashion and lifestyle books. From spring 2002 to spring 2007, the median age of female readers increased 2.1 years at Allure (to 30), three years at Bride's (to 32.9), 1.8 years at Glamour (to 33.4), three years at Harper's Bazaar (to 41.3), 2.4 years at Redbook (to 45.4), 4.3 years at Self (to 38.2), and 2.1 years at Woman's Day (to 49.8).

Shelter and lifestyle titles also rose by varying degrees. The median age of female readers increased 3.4 years at Better Homes & Gardens (to 48.8), 2.9 years at Country Living (to 49.8), 3.8 years at Family Circle (to 52), 2.8 years at Good Housekeeping (to 50.1), 3.5 years at House & Garden (to 51.8), five years at Ladies' Home Journal (to 53.2), and five years at Martha Stewart Living (to 46.6).

General interest titles, including newsweeklies, also experienced overall median age increases from 2002-2007. Here, Time rose two years to 45.8, U.S. News & World Report rose 4.4 years to 50.3, and Vanity Fair jumped 5 years to 41.7. Smithsonian is up 3.6 years to 54. The median age rose 3.7 years at Barron's, to 49.5, and 2.8 years at BusinessWeek, to 46.4.