Declining magazine revenues prompt online move

 emarketer offers some disconcerting news for magazine publishers. According to today's report some 525 American titles folded in 2008 with others closing in 2009. All attributed to a shift in print advertising to other media, in particular the Internet. Previous blog entries have discussed the wider issue of a move away from print to the Internet. A good example is Technical Data Sheets. Often these are required by architects or consulting engineers at short notice. Fifteen or maybe twenty years ago they were faxed and a printed copy followed by mail. As a result there was little point in using colour print - sales publications could do that. Today the PDF is the preferred format and colour is back. Many architects have recognised that they do not want to use valuable office space for rows of traditional ring binders either when they can simply download what they need.  From the print side Printweek.com today reports on job cuts throughout the print industry and carries an article that conditions are right for mergers. Within this article is news of investment in digital print technology in the field of intelligent colour personalisation which is another subject and a indication that print specialisation is the future.

Anecdotal evidence suggests that there is still a preference for print as a preferred medium for reading away from the computer screen. Some journals have reacted to this better than others by revamping not only the design of their publication but also investing in content by providing articles that are interesting to read. In the industrial publication sector IET has done this very well with their E&T journal. The Engineer continues to offer good value content and interestingly offers the same magazine online, but most industrial sector publications have long since descended into a catalogue of paid for press releases, manufacturer sponsored articles and shrinking advertising revenues. It appears they remain alive by a combination of telesales to companies equally slow to recognise the changing times. Some publications carried by the inertia of advertisers are almost unreadable, but that is another story. Ironically although many industrial companies invest in R&D to innovate new cutting edge products, they do not do the same for their marketing but continue to roll out the same budget and formula year after year - same advertising, same magazines, attend the same exhibitions with the same people and have an amateur approach to the Internet.

So has the printed magazine a future? Good content and good design are key. In a straw poll yesterday in a client's office there was an overwhelming preference for this to be in print. News headlines are OK on the Internet where print cannot compete so well, but magazines carrying more researched in depth articles could have a good future. 

Finally my own straw poll on the train out of London last night. Several people were reading books, quite a few were skimming through the free evening papers - nobody had the paid for Evening Standard - others were plugged into iPods, some were asleep and one girl was watching a particularly blood thirsty samuri movie on her lap top. Nobody had a magazine.