Deadline for OMDC Magazine Fund is May 31

The deadline for the OMDC Magazine Fund 2018-19 is May 31, 2018 (by 5:00 pm ET). The Fund supports the business development of independent Ontario-based magazine publishers through the creation and implementation of new strategic initiatives that enable publishers to achieve business development and/or marketing objectives. Guidelines and the link to the online application portal. 

There are two information sessions in advance of the deadline: in person,  Wednesday, April 18, 2018, 10:00 am – 11:30 am ET at the Conference Centre, Main Floor, North Tower, 175 Bloor Street East, Toronto; the other a webinar Tuesday, April 17, 2018, 10:00 am – 11:00 am ET. 

Mag world view: Bauer's Pilot; Walmart pulls Cosmo; Putting magic back in mags; Data: the new oil?; Facebook blowback

• Bauer Media to launch Pilot TV magazine (FIPP)
• Walmart Pulls Cosmo From Store Checkouts Due to “Sexually Explicit” Nature (Folio:)
• Brazil's female sports journalists take stand against sexual harassment (Guardian)
• Meredith Corp. Shuffles Sales Structure Amid Ongoing Time Inc. Integration (Folio:)
• BBC appoints first ever podcasts commissioning editor with aim of engaging younger listeners (Press Gazette)
• Putting The Magic Back In Magazines –  Stefano Tonchi, Editor In Chief, W Magazine (Mr. Magazine)
• Is #DeleteFacebook Going to Change Academic Life and Scholarly Publishing? (Scholarly Kitchen)
• Data is not the new oil (TechCrunch)
• Will news organizations face Facebook-fueled blowback for using third-party tracking on their own sites? (Nieman Journalism Lab)
• Why advertisers should focus on storytelling (Media Update)

Student journalist winners honoured at the Emerge Media Awards

The Emerge Media Awards were made on March 22, showcasing the achievements of student journalists from across Canada. Emerge was launched in 2015 as the first and only national post-secondary media awards program in Canada.

The awards, administered by the University of Guelph-Humber, recognize the best writing, editing, videography, audio, digital design, communications and public relations done at the post-secondary level. This year, the EMAs attracted more than 250 submissions from universities and colleges from coast to coast. The judging is conducted by an independent panel of industry representatives, including editors, broadcasters, producers, and other media professionals. [Disclosure: I was one of the judges.]

2018 winners

Winners of the 2018 awards are:

• Written Word: Josie Kao - University of Toronto - "Data In A Foreign Land"
• Audio Storytelling: Trent Erickson, Will Gordon, Cameron Honey, Aviva Jacob, Danielle McCreadie, Nermeen Ramadan, Jayde Tynes - University of Kings College - "What If The Halifax Explosion Never Happened?"
• Videography: Caitlin Taylor, Jennifer Ackerman, Janelle Blakley, Josh Diaz - University of Regina - "Severed"
• Multimedia Production: Jolene Rudisuela, Amy Simpson, Lexi Wright - Mount Royal University - "Closing Midfield"
• Photography: Cody Bonner - Mohawk College - "From Above"
• Public Relations: Jason Lau - McMaster University - "Canada is the world"
• Design-Print: Elham Numan, Pearl Cao, Piyumi Konara, Keith Cheng - University of Toronto - "The Varsity Fall Magazine: The Futures Issue"
• Design-Online: Seher Asaf, Francesca Bianco, Sophie Gray, Yusheng Cai, Haley Lewis, Emma Loy, Holly McKenzie-Sutter, Sharon Nadeem,Andrew Seal, Taranjit Singh, Alex Migdal and Anya Zoledziowski - University of British Columbia - Tém:éxw: "Stories Of Land"

Time and other recently acquired titles being put up for sale by Meredith Corporation

Time magazine, Fortune, Sports Illustrated, Fortune and Money were always an odd fit for Meredith Corporation when it took over the Time stable of titles from Time Warner Inc. And, as a result, they are up for sale, according to a story in Bloomberg,  Meredith is keeping People magazine, the most profitable. Other titles acquired include Real Simple and InStyle. 

Meredith is planning to cut 1,000 jobs over the next 10 months as it consolidates what they are keeping with their existing flagships such as Better Homes & Gardens and Family Circle  and other titles (mostly entertainment, food, lifestyle, home, parenting,  beauty and fashion) 

“That was the plan all along I think,” said Craig Huber, an analyst who follows Meredith at Huber Research Partners. “Meredith has never liked the weekly magazine business because the editorial content gets stale very quickly.”

Don't know, at your peril; Canadian Art publishes "Dirty Words" issue

Artist: Divya Mehra

Canadian Art magazine has published an unusual "Dirty Words" issue for spring. Poking fun at art-world taboos, the idea for the issue keys off a low-budget, Ottawa kids TV program called "You Can't Do That on Television", later syndicated on YTV in Canada and Nickleodeon in the U.S. The program was notorious, among other things, for dumping green slime on hosts whenever they said "I don't know.". 

” Our “Dirty Words” issue is about the many, complicated concerns that inform the production of art. Much of the art reproduced here is text-based; some words in these works are traditionally profane." [says editor in chief David Balzer] "This is also an issue about what words can, and can’t, do. Words tend to be inadequate, as artist Jenny Holzer asserted in a well-known work—so why not use them to open dialogue and express uncertainty?"

Mag world view: Ellies dominated; Vice Media reboots; Nat Geo admits racism; Inside NME's demise; Killer postage

• New York and The New Yorker Dominate Ellie Awards Once Again (Folio:)
• Reboot at Vice Media as co-founder Shane Smith steps down (SpaceDaily)
• Microsoft announces breakthrough in Chinese-to-English machine translation (TechCrunch)
• National Geographic: 'For decades, our coverage was racist' (Guardian)
• Condé Nast Just Appointed Its First Chief Data Officer (Folio:) 
• Game Over: Postage Rate Hikes Would Shut Down ESPN Magazine (Dead Tree Edition)
• 'Its soul was lost somewhere': inside the demise of NME (Guardian)
• "We’re Playing To Win Versus A Lot Of People Who Are Playing Not To Lose”: Meredith president (Mr. Magazine)
• Reuters’ new automation tool wants to help reporters spot the hidden stories in their data (but won’t take their jobs) (Nieman Journalism Lab)

New mag Best Life from St. Joseph Communications carries flyers into mailboxes

St. Joseph Communications has tapped into the flyer business by creating a new distribution option that polybags flyers with a new editorial lifestyle magazine called Best Life. The company says people love their flyers; but the solution removes retailers from a cluttered delivery environment and gets their messages across a consumer’s doorstep via Canada Post delivery.

“We’re excited to present this new flyer delivery model for Canadian retailers that is cost-effective and provides a great consumer experience, tapping into Canadians’ affinity for flyers and high-quality editorial,” says Tony Gagliano, CEO of St. Joseph Communications. “Over the last 12 months, we have worked to develop and create the ultimate model that addresses what’s lacking in flyer delivery in Canada today: a compelling, relevant, targeted, differentiated, timely – and affordable solution.”

The first Best Life package will be tested with distribution in the London market on April 27.  

Apple is buying Texture, the digital subscription service for magazines

Apple is buying Texture, the all-you-can-read subscription service (sometimes dubbed the "Netflix of magazines") that lets users in the United States and Canada call up digital editions of more than 200 magazines for a flat fee. 

The enterprise, which started out as Next Issue Media, launched in 2012, is owned by a consortium of big U.S.-based magazine publishers (along with a $50 million chunk owned by venture capital company KKR.) 

Rogers Media launched Next Issue Canada (later Texture Canada) soon thereafter, adding many Canadian titles to the menu offered to subscribers -- along with the U.S. titles. According to a story by Peter Kafka on Recode:

"Apple hasn’t disclosed a price but I’m told KKR will at least get their money back and that the publishers who started the company — Conde Nast, Hearst, News Corp and Meredith (which now owns Time Inc., another founder) — are happy with the deal."

Apple Media boss Eddy Cue said 

“We are committed to quality journalism from trusted sources and allowing magazines to keep producing beautifully designed and engaging stories for users.”

[Apple doesn't usually announce smaller acquisitions, but apparently made an exception in this case because Cue was speaking at the South by Southwest conference this week in Austin, Texas.]

CPA magazine outsourced to St. Joe's contract publishing arm

CPA Canada has outsourced the publishing of its award-winning magazine to Strategic Content Labs, the contract publishing arm of St. Joseph Communications. 

The frequency of the magazine will be cut from 10 per year to six starting in May and it is said that the result will be more like the Harvard Business Review. 

Among the staff let go were editor-in-chief Okey Chigbo, deputy editor Bernadette Kuncevicius and art director Bernadette Gillen. Remaining are: Harriet Bruser, editorial assistant; Margaret Craig Boursin (editor digital editions); and Kevin Pudsey (associate art director), plus Alexandra Garant (manager of advertising sales).  

Growth in video and mobile lead the way in magazine audience mix

Magazine media's audience numbers are relatively steady, according to a report from Magazine Media 360. There is a -.5% decrease across the 118 magazine brands used in the analysis, but strong growth in video, up 13% from January 2017, and a mobile audience increase of 1.6%, according to a story from Media Post. Linda Thomas Brooks, president and CEO of MPA—The Association of Magazine Media, said

“Year-after-year, we continue to see total magazine media audiences grow, proving that consumers don’t choose one format at the expense of another, rather, they enjoy magazine content across platforms.” 

Ironically, despite the fact that mobile audience numbers remain big and are growing annually, results have been erratic, largely because of comScore’s Mobile Metrix methodology changes to weed out bots and fraudulent activity.

 “After two-and-a-half years of double-digit growth—from the mid-2014 launch of Magazine Media 360° through the end of 2016—the 2017 Mobile Unique Visitor counts for our reported magazine media brands showed erratic gains and losses in consecutive reporting,” Jeri Dack, director of research initiatives, MPA—The Association of Magazine Media stated.

Video audience was up 13% from January 2017; pPrint and digital numbers were flat, with a decrease of -1.7%, web (desktop/laptop) declined by -5.5%, signaling the migration to mobile.

British beer magazine Original Gravity is to launch a Toronto edition in May

Original Gravity, a British quarterly beer magazine, is launching a Canadian edition in Toronto. The first will be the spring-summer edition coming out May 17, 2018. There will be three issues in 2018. Respected beer writer Stephen Beaumont will be editor-in-chief.

“Toronto has been crying out for a top beer publication for a long time,” says Beaumont [in a releae] “So when [publisher] Daniel [Neilson] approached me with the idea of launching a local version of Original Gravity, a magazine I have long admired on my visits to London, I leapt at the chance.” 

“Original Gravity in the UK is a respected publication with an interesting angle that appeals to all readers, from the merely craft beer-curious to die-hard beer enthusiasts,” says Neilson. “As editor-in-chief, Stephen will bring his vast expertise and brilliant writing to the magazine.”    

Featured will be Toronto-centric versions of columns popular with Original Gravity’s UK audience, including ‘The Art of Beer’ and beer style focused ‘The 6-Pack,’ as well as longer-form articles by Beaumont, Ontario Craft Beer Guide co-author Jordan St. John and others. Issue #15 can be read online now.                                                                                                                                          

LRC Literary Review of Canada ends four-year-old Spur festival

LRC, the Literary Review of Canada, is after four years discontinuing Spur, its national festival of politics, art and ideas "due to financial considerations". Spur was launched on the watch of former publisher Helen Walsh, who left the publication last fall. LRC thereafter undert00k a strategic review, at least one outcome of which is the end of Spur. 

"We want to thank you for joining us at these events and helping to shape important and dynamic Canadian conversations," [said a note from Sarmishta Subramanian, editor in chief of LRC.] "We continue to explore these issues in the pages of Spur's sister organization, the Literary Review of Canada, an award-winning monthly magazine about books, culture, politics and ideas." 

Australian Geographic acquired by Blue Ant Media

March issue

Blue Ant Media of Toronto has announced the acquisition of Australian Geographic magazine from Bauer Media. The bimonthly is one of Australia's top 10 paid magazines, with more than 40,000 subscribers and a readership of 540,000. 

“Australian Geographic is the most iconic Australian wildlife and nature publication, reaching a highly engaged audience of natural history fans through its multi platform content,” said Michael MacMillan, CEO, Blue Ant Media [in a release.] “The purchase of Australian Geographic reinforces our footprint in the Australian market while providing an impactful vehicle for showcasing the work of our natural history documentaries and series being produced all over the world.”

Blue Ant is a privately held producer, distributor and channel operator, with a catalogue of more than 3200 hours of content, across a number of channels, including Love Nature (International), ZooMoo Networks (International), Smithsonian Channel Canada, BBC Earth (Canada), Blue Ant Entertainment (International), Blue Ant Extreme (International) and HGTV (New Zealand). Blue Ant Media is headquartered in Toronto, with operations in Los Angeles, Singapore, Auckland, Dunedin, London, Washington, Sydney, Beijing and Taipei. The company is best known in Canadian magazine circles for having taken over Cottage Life Media and associated properties in 2012.