Quality counts, not just in editorial, but in customers

Within recent memory, circulators were bedevilled by publishers who wanted more subscribers, period. It didn't matter who they were, or what quality; the company strategy was pinned on getting a lot of them and then charging advertisers for access to them. As a result, magazine databases became bloated with marginal customers who didn't really care about them and who had to be bribed to subscribe and had to be replaced regularly at huge expense.

Those days are gone, recently replaced by gloominess about the impact of new technologies and digital publishing and changing customer habits. But it seems that some publishers are finally emerging from the gloom and learning to create publishing models that may work in the new reality. And quality is what matters, not just in content, but in customers.

A story in the Washington Post reports that Newsweek, the beleaguered newsmagazine, plans to double its subscription rate over the next two years, to as much as $75, and aim at getting fewer, better customers. Being more "circulation driven", in other words.

Ann McDaniel, managing director of Newsweek, which is owned by The Washington Post Co., said the magazine will aim for a "smaller base of very committed subscribers and get more money from each of them," while speaking at The Post Co.'s annual shareholders meeting at the company's D.C. headquarters.

Newsweek relaunched in May, with Editor Jon Meacham writing to readers that the weekly magazine would deemphasize breaking news in favor of "reported narrative" and "the argued essay."

(In a sense, this is at least part of the strategy being followed by Maclean's magazine, which has "managed down" its circulation from over half a million to just over 300,000, and changed its editorial emphasis to public affairs and commentary rather than breaking news. However, for now, there's no indication that Maclean's plans a major jump in circulation price.)

The Post story said analysts suggested Newsweek may be following the business model of The Economist, which charges $120 a year (Newsweek charges $37).