Magazine market shedding weight

Quite simply, as one of my media colleagues so succinctly put it: “There are just too many bloody magazines in the market...”

According to news reports, the new CEO of Media24 Magazines, John Relihan, said the latest closure had been taken “for economic reasons.” And there is no reason whatsoever to doubt him. These very economic reasons are going to see a lot more magazines go to the wall in the short to medium term.

Perceptions stick

But, in Media24's case, these economic reasons quite clearly include the fact that once a magazine's circulation figures are thrown into doubt it becomes very difficult to sell advertising. Even when everyone has apologised, kissed, made up, fixed things and ad rates move down to reflect the real sales figures, perceptions stick like chewing gum to a church pew and the resultant blot on the title's image tends to send advertisers scurrying away.

There are, of course exceptions to this rule, but only when a title has a solid track record and an image strong enough to weather storms of controversy.

What is happening right now is that Media24's circulation debacle has probably just started a trend that would have become inevitable in a few months time anyway. Whether it has started a minor landslide of magazine titles into that voracious yawning pit of publishing failures or whether it will turn into an avalanche, only time will tell.

Too many magazines

The booming economic times of the past few years with low interest rates and plenty of disposable income, particularly in the youth and young adult markets, made the magazine industry look, rosy. But now, with the tightening of interest rates, decrease in disposable income and pretty depressing economic times generally staring us in the face, suddenly there are just too many bloody magazines in the market.

Think about it. For the past few years, new magazine titles have been hitting the shelves at a frenetic rate - sometimes as often as one a week. That has created quite a big bubble and it is certainly not unreasonable to expect something to go pop.

History has shown that while logic dictates that marketers should spend more on advertising in bad times to maintain brand shares, exactly the opposite happens. Advertising budgets are battened down behind immovable hatches and only the best survive.

The best being magazines that have stuck rigorously to providing the best possible content to the most lucrative market segment while conscientiously supplying the ABC with real circulation figures.