Time Inc.'s Canadian advertising sales to be handled by Publicitas

Time Inc. has selected Publicitas to handle its advertising sales in Canada. It was announced today that the large international marketing services company will represent over 30 print and digital brands across the Time Inc. portfolio which may include People, Sports Illustrated, InStyle, Time, Real Simple, Southern Living, Entertainment Weekly, Cooking Light and Fortune. The multi-year agreement is effective immediately. The arrangement does not include the Affluent Media Group (Travel + Leisure, Food & Wine and Departures.)

“We awarded our Canadian business to Publicitas because of its solid track record with some of our key brands, its talented and driven team and its deep relationships in the region,” said Ellis. “We conducted a thorough search for a partner to help us better extend our ‘One Time Inc.’ sales approach to our clients in Canada. Publicitas was the unanimous choice, and we welcome the company to the Time Inc. team. It is going to be a great asset for us.”

Fuel Digital of Montreal to rep Condé Nast French properties across Canada

Fuel Digital Media of Montreal has been selected to represent Francophone properties of Condé Nast across Canada, including such brands as GQmagazine.fr, VanityFair.fr, Vogue.fr and GlamourParis.com. On the company's website, John Sclapari, founding president of Fuel, said

"Focusing on women's & men's lifestyle, as well as international cultural events, Condé Nast Publications contribute to consolidate our position in the category Lifestyle, The addition of these new sites to those of our "Lifestyle" vendors such as Gentside.com, Ohmymag.com and FashionStyleMag.com not only allows us to enrich our offering in this market coveted by advertisers, but also to extend our reach to influential and affluent consumers."

March ad pages bulk up U.S. fashion mags

The big U.S. fashion magazines tend to have their biggest issues in September/early fall, but coming up close behind are March issues. According to data published by WWD , the tally of Big 5 advertising pages was as follows:

• Vogue (405)
• Harper's Bazaar (336)
• Elle (315)
• InStyle (263)
• W (209)

Quebecor Media announces new organizational sales structure

Quebecor Media Sales has been reorganized so that national sales for magazines, newspapers, digital and out-of-home will be divided into five sectors: automotive, consumer products, retail, telecommunications and financial services, and entertainment and recreation. A release said

"The company wants to allow its teams to further deepen their knowledge of their clients’ business sectors and thus promote a more strategic and productive collaboration with the external advertising teams involved in clients’ marketing strategies. Quebecor Media Sales clients will be offered business solutions with high added value, fully in line with their sales targets."

Quebecor, through its TVA Group, is the largest magazine publisher in Quebec, producing such titles as Le Lundi, Derniere Heure, 7 Jours, Moi & Cie, Femmes Plus and Clin d'oeil.

MPA unveils new metrics and stops counting print ad pages

The Association of Magazine Media (MPA) in the U.S. has launched a new report called Magazine Media 360 which promises to capture unduplicated average consumer readership across multiple platforms, including print, digital editions, websites and video. Essentially, the MPA is abandoning the measurement of print by ad sales and circulation as its yardstick and 30 of the largest companies such as Condé Nast, Time Inc. and Hearst Magazines, publishing 147 of the major titles in the industry have signed on the the new service.

(Not coincidentally, the measurement of monthly and weekly ad page counts and circulation figures published for almost 70 years in the Media Industry Newsletter is being discontinued and MPA will no longer provide ad data from the Publishers Information Bureau free on its web site. Media reporters will have to pay for it.) 

The new approach relies not on audited information but on sampling of GfK MRI's Survey of the American Consumer, combined with unique visitors data about web traffic, mobile web and video measured by third parties such as comScore Media Metrix, Ipsos, comScore, Nielsen Online, Nielsen NetView and a separate social media report from SocialFlow to come out next month detailing numerical changes from month to month in each brand's Facebook likes and Pinterest, Google+, Instagram and Twitter followers.

“With Magazine Media 360, we finally have a comprehensive accounting of consumer demand for our brands, an imperative for the industry since, with the growth of new, rapidly evolving digital platforms, consumer demand is today’s media currency,” said MPA CEO Mary G. Berner in her presentation to the industry. “In fact, given the success of many magazine brands on those new platforms, continuing to rely on print circulation and ad paging counts in isolation to determine demand for magazine media would be like measuring the viewership of the Super Bowl exclusively based on the people who watched it in the stadium.”

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Venerable Ladies' Home Journal ceasing monthly publication

The July issue of Ladies' Home Journal will be its last as a periodical. Meredith Corporation has announced that, after 131 years, this cornerstone of women's interest publishing will only be available as an occasional newsstand special interest publication. According to a story in Ad Age, subscribers will be offered one of the other Meredith publications such as Better Homes & Gardens, More or Every Day with Rachael Ray.

LHJ has a circulation of 3.2 million, down from its peak in 1968 of 6.8 million. Meredith bought the magazine and Health magazine from Family Media in 1986 for about $96 million. Ad sales fell 17% in 2013 and so far this year have declined 23%.

The change means that the entire editorial staff will be laid off. Some business side shifts may be made within Meredith, which is moving production of special interest publications from New York to its Des Moines, Iowa headquarters. 

Ladies' Home Journal is one of the original group of women's service magazines called the Seven Sisters, along with fellow Meredith titles Better Homes and Gardens and Family Circle as well as Hearst-owned Good Housekeeping, Redbook and Woman's Day. (The seventh sister, McCall's, closed in 2002.) They share similar challenges of graying audiences and declining ad pages. 

[Spkesman Art] Slusark said that transitioning Ladies' Home Journal to a special interest publication will "improve the profitability of Meredith's National Media Group, which oversees its magazines. 

Meredith posted a 37% decline in profits during its most recent quarter. Ad revenues across its national magazines fell to $112 million from $129 million the prior year.

Data shows circ declines for subs, sharp declines for singles; digital still insignificant

Canadian magazine circulation declined 5.7% for the six months ended December 31, according to Alliance for Audited Media data. Paid subs were down 5.4%; single copy sales down 12.7%. 

Of 61 reporting titles, the leading publications were Chatelaine (523,942, down 2.3 from the previous year, same period), Canadian Living (520,239, up 1.4%), Reader's Digest (396,692, down 16.1%), Maclean's (295,888, down 5.2%) and Style at Home (237,862, up 2.1%).  

Digital circulation for 50 titles reporting it showed a tripling to about 125,00 circulation or 1.6% of total, paid, verified and analyzed non-paid circulation. Leaders in digital circ were Reader's Digest (34,117), Canadian House & Home (11,045), Maclan's (7,807), Selection Reader's Digest (6,035) and Chatelaine (5,590).

AAM data about the circulation of American magazines in Canada in the first half of 2013 shows National Geographic on top with a total paid and verified circulation of 300,744, down 2.37% from 2012 same period). Other leaders were Cosmopolitan (184,569, down 16.5%),People (134,980, down 8.03%), O the Oprah Magazine (129,356, down 0.29%) and Woman's World (119,485, up 3.29%)

The total circulation of U.S. consumer magazines decreased 1.7% in the second half of 2013 compared with the same period 2012. According to a report from the AAM, the decline was mostly in single-copy sales, which fell 11% from 25.4 million to 22.6 million. Paid subscriptions fell from 264.9 million to 262.8 million. Digital circulation growth pulled the numbers back up by increasing 37% to 10.6 million copies; still, a relatively small (3.4%) of total circulation.

Latest numbers for ad sales of U.S. business-to-business publications are part of a long trend showing almost no rebound from the recession. Data published by the American Business Media shows that ad sales were down 7.5% for the year 2013 to August, the fourth year in a row where paves have not recovered from their zenith. (see graph below). The hardest-hit categories were automotive, aviation, banking and retail, with declines of between 11 and 23%. (There's a good article by D. B. Hebbard of TalkingNewMedia about this.) 

Housing uptick in U.S. results in 9% monthly increase in ads in shelter magazines

A report from the Marketplace Economy blog on American Public Media says that the strengthening housing market has had a knock-on impact on shelter magazines in the U.S. (Presumably, that effect will also be seen in Canada.)

Kate Kelly Smith works with Hearst Design Group which publishes House Beautiful. She says the strong housing market means interior design magazines are selling more ads. Advertising Age says this month's issues have sold almost 9 percent more than last year.

"We'll we're a direct reflection of the market, so when there's an uptick in the marketplace, we can feel it across each and every part of our business," Kelly Smith says.

Rogers Media changes ad sales structure to offer integrated approach

Rogers Media is changing its advertising sales structure to reflect an integrated, client-centred approach, according to a story in Marketing. A client can now talk to one Rogers person or team about an integrated solution that might involve everything from magazine ads to TV or radio spots. 

While most integrated media companies have traditionally built their sales departments to be platform-specific, with one team for TV, one for print, one for digital etc., Rogers’ new model addresses clients’ growing desire for integrated solutions, said Tomik. 

“They just want to know how they can get in front of the consumer in the best possible way with the highest impact,” [said Jack Tomic, chief sales officer]. “More than ever before, integrated solutions are where it’s at.”

The four team leads are Mitch Dent, executive vice-president, Rogers TV sales; Brandon Kirk, vice-president of sales, publishing; Linda McErlain, general sales manager, radio; and Gavin Roth, VP, multiplatform sales. They retain their platform job titles, at least for now. Another lead will be appointed in coming weeks, said Tomik. He said the benefits would be a simplified sales approach avoiding bombarding clients with pitches from various media properties and the company infighting that can result. No word yet on which team will service which agency or client. 

“What we hope to do is smooth out that process in a dramatic and large-scale way so that we’re just easier to do business with, and that we integrate and work together internally so that instead of trying to ensure we make budget on a radio or television station, we’re trying to build advertising campaigns that work for the client. 

“If you work for the client and make them happy, the result is pretty straightforward: They’ll do more business and spend more money with you.”

The Nation and National Review meet in the middle to sell ads

Though they're at opposite poles politically, The Nation magazine and National Review (left and right, respectively) have collaborated on creating the "Purple Network" to jointly sell the two magazines as a deep-discounted ad buy. The two magazines both pursue "opinion leaders" and, according to a story in Folio:, by joining forces they hope to allay nervousness among national advertisers and corporate marketers about aligning with only one side of the political spectrum, even though both magazines offer attractive, engaged audiences. 

"When we sell this audience to people separately, we run into the same hurdle," says Scott Budd, executive publisher of National Review. "They love who these people are, but they can't put a publicly traded company into such partisan magazines."

By joining forces, the thinking goes, marketers can buy both magazines, reach the desired demographics and sufficiently neutralize any political backlash. 

"Political magazines are always up against this with advertisers. This goes back a hundred years," adds Teresa Stack, president of The Nation. "They're skittish about advertising on one side or the other, and this mitigates it because they're talking to both sides."

Combined, the two magazines offer a rate base of 300,000 and a 50 percent discount off the standard 4-color page rate.

Edible Toronto magazine appeals for advertiser support

In the summer 2012 issue of Edible Toronto magazine, editor Gail Gordon Oliver makes a plea for advertiser support on the eve of the magazine's 5th anniversary, coming up with its fall issue. She raises the question about whether, without increased ad support, the largely free circulation magazine may be difficult to sustain.

"I’m sure most of you are aware that, aside from a small base of subscribers, Edible Toronto is distributed free of charge throughout southern and southwestern Ontario. As a privately owned, freely distributed publication, we are not entitled to receive any of the government grants and subsidies that are readily available to many other publications, and so our existence is totally dependent upon revenue from our advertisers and subscribers. We cannot thank these supporters enough for helping us to publish each issue. But our costs are high and, to be blunt, although everyone raves about the magazine and wants their free (to them) copies, it’s not been easy getting businesses and organizations to commit to supporting us financially with their advertising dollars.

"We’ll be celebrating our fifth anniversary with our fall issue. I’d like to be writing this column in five years as we hopefully head towards our tenth. Please consider supporting Edible Toronto with more than just kind words of praise and awards (not that they aren’t greatly appreciated). We need your support to sustain us and to allow us to flourish."

TC Media to sell ads for Glacier Media's online properties

TC Media has announced a strategic digital partnership with Glacier Media Inc., to sell national online advertising sales on Glacier Media’s 60 local websites in western Canada. In turn, Glacier Media will distribute e-flyers and digital promotional offers from TC Media’s advertisers on its properties.

“This new partnership with Glacier Media, an important media player in Western Canada, strengthens our positioning in that region”, said Dominique-Sébastien Forest, Vice President, National Digital Solutions, TC Media in a release.

“Partnering is one of the quickest, most effective ways of expanding and growing a business. This is not just a representation agreement for Glacier Media, but a true marriage of digital strengths between companies to strategically support each other’s long term vision”, said Shelly Wilson, Vice President Digital Sales, Glacier Media.

U.S. newspaper advertising fell by more than half in six years 2005-2011

Newspaper advertising revenues in the U.S. have declined 51.6% in six years -- from $49.4 billion in 2005 to $23.9 billion in 2011. This is according to a story in MediaDailyNews, based on data released recently by the Newspaper Association of America. The year 2005 was when internet and online advertising began to take a serious bite out of the business.

"The collapse has hit every major category of newspaper ads, beginning with the categories most vulnerable to online competition -- the classifieds -- but then quickly extending to the other traditional mainstays of the newspaper business, national and retail advertising," the story said.

Total classified revenues fell 71%, automotive 79%, national ad revenues 53% and retail revenues 46.4% over the six years. While newspapers' online revenues grew 167% or  over the same period, it is estimated that overall online ad revenues were twice that, growing 338%.

The Atlantic reports ad sales up in digital and...yes, print, too

The search for the "hybrid" model of print and online has been elusive for some, but The Atlantic magazine seems to have found the sweet spot. It is reporting that advertising revenues in both digital and print were up in the third quarter, with overall ad revenues up 19%. Digital was up 41% and print up 3%.

Jay Lauf, VP and publisher of The Atlantic, said the publication is finally starting to see significant revenue from mobile advertising as well. Ads for its iPhone and iPad apps accounted for 2% of overall digital ad revenue in the third quarter, a figure Lauf expects to increase in 2012.

Unique visitor traffic on its three web-based properties, TheAtlantic.com, TheAtlanticWire.com and the recently launched TheAtlanticCities.com is up to 10 million per month, more than double the number of visitors it was bringing in on average a year ago.

Of course it helps to produce a great magazine and excellent online content. 

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Q1 magazine ad pages in U.S. increase 2.5%

Ad pages in U.S. magazines increased by about 2.5% in Q1 of 2011, compared with the same quarter a year earlier. According to figures released by the Publisher's Information Bureau, reported by Folio:, in the first quarter there were sold 35,755 pages. The increase hasn't yet clawed back to where the magazines were two years ago -- in Q1 2010 there was a 9.4% decrease.

The biggest jump in ad pages was Rolling Stone magazine, with a 70.6% increase; 207.5 pages.

According Andrew Jung, chief marketing officer of the Association of Magazine Media, 2011’s first quarter marked the fourth consecutive quarter of growth in ad pages and PIB revenue, which rose 6.1 percent in 2011’s first quarter, compared to 2010’s first quarter.

Hearst Magazines were the clear ad page comeback champs in 2010

Hearst Magazines is the leader among the big 5 group publishers in the U.S. in terms of ad page gain in 2010, compared with 2009. The data was compiled by the industry publication min online from publisher's own information.  Hearst showed a 10% gain year-over-year, followed closely by Conde Nast with 7%. All the major groups suffered significant, recession-driven sales declines in 2009.

Modest overall U.S. Q1 magazine ad page growth led by zooming shelter titles

Up 80.6% in ad pages

An encouraging trend in the U.S. is that two of the top five gainers in terms of advertising pages are in the shelter category, hard hit by the recent recession. According to data published by min online, Architectural Digest had an 80.6% increase in March compared with a year ago, buoyed by the recovery of luxury and housing markets. And Elle Decor was up 39.9%. Others in the top 5: People StyleWatch  (up 75% in March and 50% in the first quarter); Seventeen up 66% and with the biggest issue in three years; and Texas Monthly, up 43%. Over all, min's data showed a modest growth of 1.15% in the first quarter, the first since 2007.

U.S. fashion mags have mixed Q1 ad page results; some big winners and losers

Up 46.5%

First quarter ad sales for leading U.S fashion magazines -- just about to splash out their bellwether March issues -- has not been an unalloyed joy, according to a report in Women's Wear Daily, based on data from Media Industry Newsletter.  People StyleWatch was up a breathtaking 46.5%,Elle up 14.3%, Women's Health 11.7%, InStyle 10.9%  and Vogue up 10.6%. Decliners were Lucky (-14.3%), Self down 12.6%, Cosmopolitan down 12.5%, Harper's Bazaar down 11.6%.

Surge in Q4 buoys U.S. magazine ad sales

Magazines in the U.S. saw a surge in ad pages in the 4th quarter of 2010, ending down only about 1% for the year, according to the Publishers Information Bureau (PIB) data, reported by Folio:. Automotive ad pages jumped 16.9 percent, with General Motors Corp. leading, spending $385.4 million in 2010, up 56 percent from 2009.

Ad page performance, 12 categories, 2010 versus 2009

• Toiletries and Cosmetics: +11.6%
• Food & Food Products: -3.5%
• Drugs & Remedies: -2.5 percent
• Apparel & Accessories: 0%
• Retail: +1.5%
• Media & Advertising: -3.0%
• Automotive: +16.9%
• Home Furnishings & Supplies: +0.7%
• Direct Response Companies: -9.3%
• Financial, Insurance and Real Estate: +9.3%
• Technology: +2.4%
• Public Transportation, Hotels & Resorts: -9.5%

Source: Publishers Information Bureau

Are magazine apps being met with a yawn by advertisers?

Magazines that have invested heavily in online apps are finding that the payoff is smaller than their investment now and may continue to be for years to come.

Those publishers who have taken the plunge and hired staff and put money into upfront and development costs are finding that their investments are being met at worst with a yawn by advertisers and at best lukewarm ad interest, according to a story in Brandweek.

While there is a lot of hype and a very few success stories, audiences are too small to have much impact.

"The problem with apps is, not a ton of people are downloading them," said Martin Walker, a publishing industry consultant. "It's a very small business at the moment. Apple still owns it and they won't let you sell subs. You can't make money on something where you're selling a few thousand copies."

Forthcoming tablets that support the Android platform are expected to offer a subscription option, but that opportunity won't come without extra cost. Until developers come up with a way to let publishers create apps that will work on multiple devices, publishers will have to spend more to customize their apps for each screen size and operating system.

Publishers privately downplay their apps' development costs. But whether they grow their apps in-house or use an outside developer, development and ongoing staffing costs are adding up.

Even for companies that profess not to be hiring a lot of additional people, there are the hidden costs of staffers' time that could have been spent on other products.

"There's a lot of investment for the future," said Andy Sareyan, president of consumer brands at Meredith Corp.'s magazine group, which expects to create apps for Better Homes and Gardens, Fitness and its other titles. But, he added, "there will be a time when these are profitable. When that time is, I don't know."

The Brandweek story notes that publishers, making apps free, may be may be replicating a mistake they made 15 years ago when they used websites as a upsell bonus and then found it hard to charge for online ads.