Kellie Northwood, CEO, TSA Limited explores the growing strength of magazines not just for the reader but also brands who are wanting to cut-through the noisy digital world.
Browsing: magazines
As the New Yorker’s editor David Remnick recently said, readers don’t want dumber, cheaper versions of legacy media. So how are magazines embracing new channels, creating new revenue streams, developing new products, working creatively with advertisers and generally showing an elasticity in their view of what media is, all while keeping their souls in tact? Jihee Junn looks at some of the best local examples.
Post. Click. Share. Repeat. At a time when filling the digital pipes with ‘content’ – no matter the quality – seems to be the go-to strategy for many brands and publishers, Damien Venuto looks at whether there’s a reaction against too much information from enlightened marketers and agencies and more value being placed on the skills that are required to craft high-quality media.
TV is apparently dead. And as corollary a magazine about TV should already have a strong onset of rigor mortis. However, in a great display of resilience in a fragmented media world, The TV Guide is holding strong as New Zealand’s number one selling magazine. We go back to the magazine’s beginning and talk to editor Julie Eley to see how it’s secured itself as the armchair companion to many New Zealanders.
Daisies refracted in water droplets attached to a common wasp, an uninterested kayaker walking past a burning house, and a hose crudely fastened to a car were just some of the mesmerising images featured in last night’s edition of the New Zealand Geographic Photographer of the Year competition.
It’s no secret that media agency folks look forward to the Beacons every year. In many ways, the celebration of great work is the culmination of a year of late nights, impossible deadlines and the daily grind. The only problem is that it’s over in a flash, and the 365-day cycle starts all over again. Well, Bauer has this year developed a bespoke magazine that will let attendees hold onto the moment for a little longer.
Simply You Living, Bride & Groom, Habitat, NZ Life & Leisure and Wild Tomato were the major winners in the latest magazine figures, while The Red Bulletin, Trade a Boat, Cleo, Boating New Zealand and FishHead had tough years. PLUS: we look at spending trends of the top ten magazine advertisers.
StopPress’ stablemate Idealog has gone crazy! It’s slashing prices! Everything must go! To celebrate its 10th birthday, you can get a full year subscription to the magazine for only $10. That’s 365 days of food for your business brain and all for the same price as actual food like one 750g jar of Nutella, or two $5 flat whites, or four $2.50 ice creams, or $10 chips.
Fairfax is putting most of its energy into growing its online audience, and the latest numbers show that’s working. But a new TVC advertising subscriptions to its stable of magazines suggests the media company still sees some dollar signs in print.
Last night, the rain didn’t stop the New Zealand Geographic team from distributing the awards for the Photographer of the Year competition. This is, after all, an annual event celebrating a group of people who during their careers have grown accustomed to weathering the elements—and a bit of water falling from the heavens didn’t seem to bug anyone in attendance. This year there were more than 5,800 entries, which the New Zealand Geographic team eventually whittled down to 28 finalists, from which nine winners were chosen.
This month Idealog magazine published its 60th edition. A decade in publishing is an achievement worth celebrating—especially this decade—but co-founder Vincent Heeringa knows things need to keep changing if it’s to last another ten. Here’s his manifesto for the next ten years—and he believes the rules also apply to media in general.
After around five years as editor of Metro, Simon Wilson recently sent his final issue off to the printers and stepped into a new role where he aims to do more writing and less wrangling. And he signed off with an editorial that editors—and advertisers—could all learn something from.
In an ongoing series, StopPress talks to a range of newsmakers to find out how those trying to shine lights into dark places are keeping their own lights on and whether commercial realities are leading to editorial compromise. Next up, Ben Fahy talks with Bauer Media’s chief executive Paul Dykzeul.
Early this year, the MPA announced that it was making some big changes to its annual awards, with a new name, a few new categories and a new judging process. Those changes have led to an almost 40 percent increase in entry numbers and as far as the finalists go, Bauer is on top with 46, followed by Tangible Media with 25, Fairfax with 19 and Kowhai Media with 10.
It’s no secret Fairfax is reorienting its business around digital—and, specifically, mobile—with Stuff as the central pillar of that strategy. And while managing director Simon Tong recently told us in a fairly candid interview that the magazine division had largely been left to its own devices, its main magazine brands have now been swallowed by that content-hungry beast stuff.co.nz.
Magazine brands have long embraced the wagon wheel approach and interact with their audiences through a range of different mediums, whether it’s print, online or events. And while there’s no doubt print is declining in popularity in some segments, it is still working well in others and Mindfood has followed up its launch of its Style brand extension last year with a new one called Decor that’s aimed at the big, growing but quite cluttered home and living market.
Theresa Gattung was made chief executive of Telecom at the very young age of 37 and, after eight years in that stressful role, she took a well-earned break in 2007. Now she’s putting her efforts—and her capital—into a much smaller business, food delivery service My Food Bag. And with a 40 percent stake in a company that’s expecting revenues of $50 million this year, she obviously knows how to pick ‘em. Here’s how the self-proclaimed uncool entrepreneur spends her media time.
As Sky TV continues to embrace digital marketing, it has brought the curtain down on Sky Sport – The Magazine.
The magazine industry, like all other ‘traditional’ media, is adapting to a very different environment. And so are the magazine industry’s awards, with The Magazine Publishers Association adding new categories, simplifying entry, changing the judging process and renaming it the Magazine Media Awards for 2015.
Following on from its recent decision to join the IAB and last week’s launch of FQ.co.nz, Bauer has now announced a slew of other changes to its online media properties. And to promote these revamped publications, the media company will be investing $1.2 million in a marketing campaign with the aim of driving traffic to the sites.
The Pew Research Center in the United States has released its 12th edition of the annual State of the News Media report, which examines the landscape of American journalism and tracks trends related to readership, revenue and device usage. And while the publication doesn’t include a Kiwi perspective, it does provide an in-depth glimpse at many of the changes and challenges that the local media also faces due to digital disruption. One of the most telling findings from the study was that 39 of the top 50 news sites now receive more traffic to their sites on mobile phones than from desktops.
Last week, Bauer’s head of digital Michael Fuyala told StopPress that the publisher would over the next few months be making some significant moves in the digital space following the decision to join the IAB. And last night, the company kicked off the first phase of its new digital strategy—which has been in the pipeline for some time—by announcing a digital extension for Fashion Quarterly called FQ.co.nz.
The buzz phrase ‘programmatic ad buying’ has been picking up momentum in recent months, and is now commonly heard in discussions on the state of modern media. And despite the frequency with which the word is used, it still carries enough uncertainty to motivate ad tech company Chango to recently run a sponsored web series on Adweek explaining key concepts to the US market. Similarly to the US, New Zealand is also coming to grips with programmatic ad buying. And to find out a bit more, StopPress recently chatted to Zane Furtado, the programmatic director at Acquire Online.
This morning, those in the industry were reminded that print isn’t as slow as slow as what everyone suggests it is. Before any online publications released any information on the Axis Awards, the Magazine Publishers Association (MPA) had a specially printed magazine delivered to all the agencies that were in attendance. And, as an added bonus, the delivery also inlcuded a much-needed Red Bull.
The radio industry isn’t alone in this bid to provide more accurate information to clients. Recently, the Magazine Publishers Association (MPA) announced the launch of a new Nielsen-provided methodology that quantifies the total audience potential (TAP) of a magazine by incorporating pick-ups into magazine reach and frequency schedules.
Every time the quarterly figures are released and again show the downward trend of the magazine industry, it’s difficult to be optimistic, but looking at the journalism that pervades the pages of many of the publications in circulation in New Zealand today serves as reminder that the current generation of journalists still has the quality required to carry the canon of journalistic writing forward. That being said, the continued fragmentation of media has seen readers not relying solely magazines or newspapers to read the articles that interest them—and this has of course led to decline in the readership and circulation figures provided by Nielsen and ABC, respectively.
Back in 2009, ACP, now Bauer, took the opportunity to rub Fairfax’s nose in the sand when NZ Life & Leisure featured an image on its cover that Kia Ora had used on one of its earlier editions. And late last year, Woman’s Day and New Idea both featured the same image of Pippa Middleton (although very different words were used alongside). And Mindfood has pointed out that Next magazine can add its name to that list after it used a cover image of Angelina Jolie for a recent issue that had been used back in 2011.
NZ Retail magazine has been serving the local retail sector for almost 70 years and it’s set to be relaunched as a fatter, much savvier bi-monthly magazine in February next year. Plus, it will also deliver a long-awaited online extension, TheRegister.co.nz, a daily news service for the Kiwi retail sector, with news, features, jobs and case studies delivered in a mobile-friendly website.
New insights from Nielsen on New Zealand’s business decision makers indicates that reading a magazine is one of the movers and shakers’ favourite ways to consume media.
One particular magazine cover has been generating plenty of discussion and plenty of entertaining responses (Homer Kimpson takes the win) in recent days. Not surprisingly, Kim Kardashian’s effort for Paper caught the eye of Coverjunkie, a website that celebrates “creative covers and their ace designers”. And a few local efforts from Next, Metro, North & South and Threaded, have also been featured recently.