Quote, unquote

"A problem for many magazine publishers is that they serve several customer segments, forcing a dual focus, or sometimes a focus on more than two audiences. That’s the brutal reality of static media. To get higher circulation, magazines must go broad, even some of the more-narrowly focused enthusiast publications. Thus, any customer buying a single issue, or subscribing, gets something a lot less than 100 percent value from each and every page. Many may read 20 percent or less of a magazine. Take a typical business magazine, which has both consumer and professional content. Often, there are articles of extreme value, and senior executives might easily pay a whole year’s subscription price for that single piece of advice.

The old adage that magazine customers are happy to just read a few articles from their favorite columnists was only true when customers had little or no choice—before the advent and major penetration of the Internet, mobility, and cable, among others. That’s why circulation directors are having a tough time with pricing.

And in that environment, advertisers, with the ROI mentality now becoming de rigueur, will gravitate elsewhere. General, undifferentiated media is in decline everywhere."

-- From a thought-provoking article in the current Folio: by Daniel Aks formerly Chief Operating Officer of Primedia’s Consumer Media and Magazine Group, and a founder of a boutique media management consulting firm focusing on business strategy, operations excellence, and product development.