Posted on 06/09/2008 5:19:30 PM PDT by abb
Having read all three in the past, I always looked more favorably on US News... It always seemed the most conservative of the three, especially considering a few of the columnists it has.
More happy trees....
A local industry used to provide subscription to US News to all its managers and engineers. The y quit but I don’t know when.
Those people are all in their late 80’s now. The US News base is literally leaving this earth.
Nature (and business) abhores a vaccuum. What will fill it’s place? More trashy Time? New American-Idol-Oprah!-Martha-Stewart-pop-culture magazines?
God. I hope not.
Will they cut subscription prices in half since you’ll get half the number of issues? Hmmm?
The rest continue to have less pages and bigger pictures.
just whistling past the graveyard...
Who needs a news magazine anyway? By the time articles are published in Time, Newspeak, or US News they're at least a week old. You wouldn't want to eat week old bananas would you? Bloggers and discussion boards on the internet can evaluate stories in much greater depth with a greater array of expert opinion days before the news magazines are published.
Pondering the fate
of the newsweeklies
The shakeout picks up the pace with U.S. News
By Diego Vasquez
Jun 10, 2008
The newsweekly shakeout has begun in earnest with yesterday’s announcement that U.S. News + World Report will move to a biweekly printing schedule and switch its focus to the best-of lists that have become its signature. This comes nearly two years after Time changed its print date from Monday to Friday in order to become a more trend-driven, weekend-focused magazine and a year and a half after it slashed its rate base and began trying to sell advertising based on its total audience. All three magazines have hired new editors in the past two years. But the changes may not be enough. All but one of the five major newsmagazines, The Economist, have seen ad page declines in 2008, despite efforts to rethink how news is delivered in print and online. And just what the frequency change at U.S. News says about the category isn’t entirely clear. Some believe it has as much to do with that title’s own struggles as those of the category. Marty Walker of Walker Communications and Carmen Graf, senior vice president and group media director at GSD&M’s Idea City, talk to Media Life about the newsweekly shakeout, what has to change, and who’s in the best position to thrive.
What do you think of U.S. News’s move to biweekly publication? Is it a smart idea?
Walker: I think it’s a dying gasp, or last gasp.
There’s no way of being biweekly and being news-oriented, so it’s moving to more feature-oriented product. All the newsmagazines are suffering from the newspapers and internet taking their news space away, so they’re becoming more feature- and analysis-oriented.
I don’t know what U.S. News is really planning to do, although I read they may do more “Best Of” listings. But I don’t know how viable that is.
Graf: Time will tell, but I appreciate the fact that they are recognizing the need for change and trying to influence their own destiny, so, yes, I think it’s smart.
Let’s be honest, they were a distant third behind Time and Newsweek, they had to do something. From what I hear, they will be focusing their print product on rankings and data which has been a strength of theirs, and putting more focus on their online property. Now they need to integrate and leverage the strength of both.
What will it mean to media buyers?
Walker: Certainly it means fewer options. They still have three or four other options, like Time, Newsweek, The Economist and The Week, which is showing you can compete in this internet and information overload age.
Graf: It only means that we as media planners and buyers need to watch how they evolve. This is a strategy shift in the category, and whether it is successful or not, we should learn from it.
The newsmagazines have been slowly making changes in their editorial content and schedule. What other changes do they need to make to remain relevant to buyers?
Walker: Well, the question is, can they remain relevant to readers in the long run, or is it just managing a steady decline?
The analogy I’ll give you is, there was point in time when I thought the women’s service magazines would die, that they’d no longer be relevant. But they repositioned themselves and made themselves more for contemporary women, and they’ve seemed to remain successful and profitable.
I think the news magazines have to find a way to become more relevant to a younger audience.
Of course, if I knew how to do that I’d be very rich. Maybe it’s a question of demographic editions [separate versions for younger and older readers], if they could find a way to do it.
Graf: Continue to embrace change, and speed it up.
Integrating their sales force is top on my list.
If it is not one person with which to negotiate, then an accountable brand leader that represents all of their internal departments, someone who understands all facets of my clients’ business, is collaborative, and will help develop highly-customized programs based on our objectives, whether it be print, online, database marketing, experiential, loyalty programs, on-air, whatever.
We plan holistically, not by medium, and we want partners that help bring visionary ideas to life, not an order-taker.
The first three months of 2008, four of the five newsweeklies saw ad pages fall double-digit percentages. What does this tell us about the category’s health in general?
Walker: It’s nothing new. All advertising has been suffering this year, but this isn’t the first year of decline for newsweeklies. It was interesting that The Economist was up. That magazine is a serious read, much more serious than Time or Newsweek.
And I don’t know the demos, but I suspect it reaches a more upscale audience, and advertisers are willing to pay to reach out to that audience.
As the newsweeklies become dumbed-down, I think to some extent they’re losing the best of their audience.
Graf: Clearly we are in a newsworthy time period with an aggressive political and economic environment, so to see their ad pages fall by double-digits only shows that advertisers are finding more relevant and timely ways to get their message into the marketplace.
It tells us that change is needed in the category.
Of all categories, I would think this is the one that could figure it out because they are content-rich. Maybe it goes back to finding the P&L (profit and loss) balance between their print and online properties.
Even if circulation remains flat, they need the ad pages to support their business.
Do you foresee a category shakeout if the economy does not improve?
Walker: There’s not much left to shakeout. You only have about three and a half titles.
I don’t think Time Inc. will give up on Time, they can’t do that. Although they said that about Life [which folded last year].
I just have no access to the real economics of any of these magazines, but they’re going to have to change. They have to figure out what they can do, and I don’t think they’ve come up with any answers yet. But it has to be more than just changing editors.
Which is the strongest title in the category?
Walker: Well, The Economist and The Week appear to be the most viable titles at the moment.
The Economist also has the advantage of being international. The U.S. is a very strong part of it, but it also has a strong UK operation and international distribution. They’re probably buying stuff here with euros, which would help their bottom line.
But how would you define strong? It’s hard to say these days.
Graf: Though it depends on the audience we are trying to reach, baseline I have to say Time, with Newsweek a close second. But because it is close, I would be talking to both publications.
The one that would win the business is the one that ensures we reach the audience in the most relevant way, brings the creative idea to life, and leverages the strength of their properties. It is as simple as that.
One big hurdle for the newsmagazines has been integrating their print and online editorial operations. Are they finally starting to make sense of this, or are they still feeling things out?
Walker: I think they understand the issues and they’re working toward solving them, but it changes so quickly. Something that was absolutely true yesterday is no longer true today on the internet. Now it’s mobile.
Part of the problem that all magazines have on the internet is A, the price of entry for anyone is negligible, so it’s easier for there to be more competition.
And B, they don’t have the same power of their brand on the internet that they have in print. If Facebook or YouTube had a news channel, it might be a more powerful brand among the younger generation than Time or Newsweek.
And another issue is, how do you monetize it?
The print subscriber is still worth a hell of a lot more than an online visitor. And people tend to have more objections to ads on the internet than they do in print. They find them more intrusive.
Graf: Although most publications recognize the value of doing this, very few have made it happen. Essentially it comes down to two separate cost centers.
In discussions with publishers, we have heard that the online component takes more overhead and stewardship, making it more expensive on a FTE (full time employee) basis.
That makes sense. But there has to be a way to overcome this despite having separate P&L’s.
Media critic Michael Wolff predicted last week that the newsweeklies could be gone within the next five years. Is that just a bunch of bluster, or do you believe it?
Walker: Yeah. I mean one could argue it will be three, five or 10 years, but if they’re not going to disappear they’ll be in a different form.
I don’t know if people will ever want to give up reading. I don’t know if you have young children, but they love books too. Its not news, but they enjoy seeing things through their own imagination, and that’s one thing that print does for you. That will keep all print alive to some extent.
Graf: I believe that newsweeklies will be gone as we know them today, but truly believe their brands will live in a different form, whether it be as a larger interactive presence or as a content provider.
Content is rich within this space, it comes down to how it will be received.
Diego Vasquez is a staff writer for Media Life.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.