Stuart Elliott: Seems Like Hard Times for Magazines are Getting Harder

An industry that certainly has been struggling recently was further rocked on its heels with a month of shocks and setbacks First the fashion magazine Nylon disclosed that it would end its print edition after the October issue and shift to online onlyNext in the course of a week four of the business39 bestknown names announced unexpectedly they39d be stepping down from their top editorialside posts Graydon Carter at Vanity Fair Nancy Gibbs at Time Cindi Leive at Glamour and Robbie Myers at Elle Not long after a seminal American magazine Rolling Stone was put up for sale with its owners advising potential buyers they ought to slash the editorial budget by 30 percent and cut the frequency from twice a month to monthlyThe coverage of all those dour developments was not surprisingly downbeat Among the headlines quotThe Publishing Industry Knows 39Winter is Coming39quot Adweek quotWhy the Exodus of Four Top Editors Marks the End of an Era for the Magazine Industryquot CNN and quotA NotSoGlossy Future for Magazinesquot The New York TimesAs if to put an exclamation point on the negative news September ended with the death of one of the most influential magazine moguls of all time Hugh Hefner whose empire began with the first issue of Playboy in December 1953 And this month started ominously with the death of another SI Newhouse Jr known as Si who helped develop Condamp233 Nast into one of the world39s most important publishersHefner and Newhouse were emblematic of an era often described as quotthe century of the magazinequot during which entrepreneurs fervently believed that a surefire way to make their mark was to start or buy a magazine or two or more Their ranks also included Henry Luce of Time Life and Fortune fame DeWitt and Lila Wallace creators of Reader39s Digest and Jann Wenner who founded and now is selling Rolling StoneThe story of how Hefner launched Playboy has echoes of today39s startup culture the funds he used for the premiere issue included 8000 he borrowed from banks and investors Hefner achieved the kind of national celebrity and notoriety that39s usually gained nowadays by becoming a kingpin of Silicon Valley media platforms indeed just as Mark Zuckerberg of Facebook is quotZuckquot Hefner went by quotHefquotIt39s easy maybe convenient to conclude that the deaths of Hefner and Newhouse along with the other events of the last month signal the curtain is coming down for good on the magazine century There also are additional concerning omens in the form of reports about the editorialside and businessside budgets in the process of being drawn up for next year There39s speculation that the cuts coming for 2018 were significant even drastic enough to prompt the departures of one or two of the top editors who quit in SeptemberYes it has been clear for some time that print has been giving way to digital The signs are everywhere from the extensive coverage of the industry39s September blues to the subscription solicitations that offer a year39s worth of issues of a bluechip title for the price of a single copyStill I39m not quite ready to write quotfinisquot to magazines There are many launches every year even if not at the snappy pace of the past For example in 2017 Hearst Communications brought out one magazine inspired by Airbnb and another by Ree Drummond of quotThe Pioneer Womanquot TV seriesMarketers and readers continue to spend billions of dollars each year to buy magazines and magazine ad pages Of course those totals are falling in some instances precipitously but there are scores of digital publishers that would give plenty of pixels for the revenues being racked up by legacy magazinesOne answer to declining profits may be to accelerate the industry39s consolidation For instance Rolling Stone likely would benefit from being part of a larger publisher Rodale owner of such magazines as Men39s Health and Prevention is up for sale with Hearst identified as a possible acquirer And there are rumors of some kind of a combination of Time Inc and Meredith despite a deal between them falling throughAnother answer to the profit squeeze could be more aggressive promotional efforts for magazines as a medium which would require rival firms to join forces for the greater good of all rather than aiming fire at each other A promising step is being taken this week by 30 companies that belong to the industry39s trade organization MPA the Association of Magazine Media they39re undertaking a marketing campaign scheduled to run from now through March carrying this assertive theme quotMagazine Media Better Believe itquotMagazines also remain a central part of the nation39s cultural conversation It39s partly because of the renaissance of reportorial media during the Trump presidency and partly because so many digital magazines bear the names of the print publications from which they were bornThat suggests another path for magazines through the 21st century via more collaboration and cooperation between their print and digital editions The march of time will take care of questions about who will be in charge the next generation of senior editors and publishers will be by definition more focused on digital and video than their predecessorsThe future for magazines may not be glossy but it could be brighter than it appears after a September to forgetamp160Click the social buttons above or below to share this story with your friends and colleaguesThe opinions and points of view expressed in this content are exclusively the views of the author andor subjects and do not necessarily represent the views of MediaVillagecomMyersBizNet Inc management or associated writers

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Stuart Elliott: Seems Like Hard Times for Magazines are Getting Harder

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Stuart Elliott

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Stuart Elliott: Seems Like Hard Times for Magazines are Getting Harder

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