Take a look at Mia Freedman’s comments at her Mamamia site about the future of magazines in the wake of plans by Bauer to merge the editorial teams of Dolly and Cleo. She pulls no punches and speaks from authority given her background in publishing.
Take a look at Mia Freedman’s comments at her Mamamia site about the future of magazines in the wake of plans by Bauer to merge the editorial teams of Dolly and Cleo. She pulls no punches and speaks from authority given her background in publishing.
Mark great article but I do question one of Mia’s comments. “some would say flawed – business model.To sell 30K copies of a magazine you have to print at least 50K or 60K’. I find this hard to believe that with all the data the publishers and distributors have at their disposal that there would be so much wastage. If this comment is correct it may also account for the oversupply of mags.
Gregg I can understand it with returns at, say, 35% to 40%. We want a model where we sell out or come damn close to selling out. They tend to want a model where a title is on sale through the entire on-sale period.
That kind of over-printing is simply the result of not using the data. A highly rigorous system of data analysis could easily reduce this waste and still ensure a title remains on-sale for the entire period.
And I say data analysis I’m not talking about someone with a basic spreadsheet manipulating the data, I’m advocating advanced analysis by specialists – people with qualifications in statistics or similar fields.
We shouldn’t overlook the proliferation of titles in the last 20 years. The publishers and promotors overstepped with too many title launches and have saturated and fregmented the market.
The effect of Digital and generational change is a supplementary point of impact in my view.
I was just reading this Sydney Morning Herald Article. Wow. In Sweden, they already have Kiosks in Airports where passengers can print their own magazines in under 2 minutes.
http://www.smh.com.au/travel/airport-offers-printyourown-magazines-20131118-2xq20.html
Fascinating. And a choice of 100 magazines is pretty good, most travellers would find one to suit them. How much do the magazines cost, same as those mass-printed?