The Business of Magazines

[kokurox]

US Vogue launches Vogue Beauty zine: Chloë Sevigny Gives Rose Perfumes a Cool-Girl Spin
I have no idea what that is

It's a section in the September issue.

 

[Lola701]

In what time she will do all those things? she has an army of minions?...it's inevitable that one thing is gonna suffer...in this case the magazine is already suffering...she should be training now a new EIC of Vogue so she can keep the highest position as advisor and artistic director, that i assume she would prefer....

She is blinded by power...

Being in those high positions of power means being a strategist, having a vision and surround yourself with people you trust and who can execute it perfectly.

Remember that Anna is not the same type of EIC as Edward or Emmanuelle. She doesn’t spend time outside of the office doing shootings.

You can’t train an EIC. It comes with ambition and vision. And the business is changing so much in so little time that it will be pointless.

Anna is like Karl. Nobody will ever have the same level of power, as a « journalist » in the fashion industry ever. Part of her power is in the fact that she has been there for a longtime and followed the evolution of the fashion industry, from a very small entity to a globalized industry. You got to remember that she became part of CN before the creation of LVMH and due to her position by the time Arnault took over, she shaped the industry and she is still an asset.

 

[8eight]

The UK ABC figures for magazines were released today (sales figures)

Cosmopolitan is down 32 % - the circulation is 206,000 a month (50,000 of those are free copies handed out)

Vogue is stable at 192,000 copies a month (12,000 free a month)
Elle UK - 152,000 (8,000 free)

The Stylist (all free) 405,000 (A WEEK!)

Harpers a month do 117,000, but 52,000 of those are free!

UK magazines are in trouble.

 

[8eight]

Marie Claire UK havent posted a figure.

 

[tigerrouge]

Having a look at the news stories about the figures, I saw Conde Nast Brides magazine has been shut down both in the UK and the US. They sold the online rights to the name to another company, and the current print issues will be the last.

Wedding magazines might not be my thing, but the loss of any publication means the newsstand gets thinner as the months go by.

Eventually the only titles left alive in print will be Love (which will somehow still manage to be a bloated 400 pg waste of paper on a biannual basis) and US Harper's Bazaar (which will have incorporated every other Hearst publication into its pages, but every page will still look exactly the same).

 

[8eight]

My prediction is that UK Esquire will close.
UK Marie Claire will have fewer issues a year, then close. (The editor hasn't even posted the new issue to her instagram, That is how much she likes it)

UK Elle, Harpers and Red will be ok. And vogue will be fine.

UK Cosmo will go digital (the new editor is the online editor)

If Stylist is still a huge success, could Grazia go free to save it?

 

[axiomatic]

Having a look at the news stories about the figures, I saw Conde Nast Brides magazine has been shut down both in the UK and the US. They sold the online rights to the name to another company, and the current print issues will be the last.

Wedding magazines might not be my thing, but the loss of any publication means the newsstand gets thinner as the months go by.

Interesting quotes in a NYT article from the head of DotDash, which bought Brides.

“It wasn’t like there was crazy bidding at the end,” said Neil Vogel, the head of Dotdash, which is part of InterActiveCorp (IAC), the company behind Tinder, Match and OKCupid. “It’s clear to us that there wasn’t a ton of investment behind this in the last few years.”

“We’re capitalists,” Mr. Vogel said. “We like money, and we like selling ads.”

I had a free subscription. Too bad the new owner shut it down-the cover feature was usually pretty good and set it apart from other bridal magazines.

 

[axiomatic]

Condé’s Roger Lynch Talks Video, Acquisitions and Layoffs

But the majority of revenue still comes from the U.S., which Condé estimated makes up 56 percent. EMEA makes up 28 percent; Asia-Pacific 15 percent, and Latin America only 1 percent. Lynch also broke down Condé’s biggest brands by revenue. Vogue came in at the top, bringing in 28 percent of the company’s revenue; GQ was next at 13 percent; The New Yorker and Vanity Fair each bring in 10 percent; Architectural Digest and Wired each bring in 6 percent; Glamour. Bon Appetit/Epicurious and Allure each 5 percent, and Condé Nast Traveler at 4 percent. The remaining 8 percent of revenue comes from Condé’s digital-only brands, like Pitchfork and Self, a brand Lynch touted as becoming profitable again since it’s life in print ended.

 

[Benn98]

Having a look at the news stories about the figures, I saw Conde Nast Brides magazine has been shut down both in the UK and the US. They sold the online rights to the name to another company, and the current print issues will be the last.

Wedding magazines might not be my thing, but the loss of any publication means the newsstand gets thinner as the months go by.

Eventually the only titles left alive in print will be Love (which will somehow still manage to be a bloated 400 pg waste of paper on a biannual basis) and US Harper's Bazaar (which will have incorporated every other Hearst publication into its pages, but every page will still look exactly the same).

I actually want to buy the last issue of UK Brides just because it's their final issue. Well, and because of the image. It's such a classic throwback style done right,plus I'm a sucker for beige.

Thanks so much for posting the Lynch story, @axiomatic
I must say I'm shocked that the US market constitute that much of CN's revenue, although I shouldn't be because American titles all wheel and deal on their social media as much as they do on their print product. Maybe the rates are higher as well. Which begs the question. If China packs their issues with 1, sometimes 2, supplements a month, launched 3 offspring titles, how are they not ahead? There's something terribly wrong here.
I still think France is one of their most underutilised markets, not just in terms of advertising, but also brand presence. Both VP and GQ. You only need to compare the brands to Germany and the Netherlands to see how little they actually do.
Flipping through the July/August issue of Vogue Poland after I've heard about their Beauty magazine launch, I could spot maybe 2 pages of international blue chip brands in a 240pg issue. The rest are all native brands, which again must mean their revenue can't be that much.

And if Glamour is still contributing 10% to the group's income, maybe they should hire a new EIC (Elaine Welteroth!) to run the print edition!?! No surprise Self is hot again, because wellness is as popular as beauty right now.

 

[caioherrero]

The UK ABC figures for magazines were released today (sales figures)

Cosmopolitan is down 32 % - the circulation is 206,000 a month (50,000 of those are free copies handed out)

Vogue is stable at 192,000 copies a month (12,000 free a month)
Elle UK - 152,000 (8,000 free)

The Stylist (all free) 405,000 (A WEEK!)

Harpers a month do 117,000, but 52,000 of those are free!

UK magazines are in trouble.

How can we get free copy? Haha

 

[magsaddict]

yikes! For some reason I always took for granted that UK glossies were on a surer footing than some other countries, but the numbers aren't reassuring. HB surprises me, they do lovely editorials and content on presumably a much tighter budget than Vogue.

 

[magsaddict]

Helen Gurley Brown became the international editor of Cosmopolitan after she stepped down from the eic position. Who knows, maybe Anna's career is getting a similar epilogue.
I never liked her Vogue much, but I'm afraid Vogue (and other fashion magazines) will become even less relevant after she's gone.

HGB's special 'appointment' was very much a transitional strategy from a time when legendary editors were considered family at their publishing houses. I think the idea was to give her a project and an office at hearst to keep her spirits up as she was terribly addicted to her work and was privately devastated to leave the EIC position at US Cosmo. She was also a living icon of the Cosmo brand she created, so it was as much a symbolic and ornamental appointment than a serious position. I wonder if Anna will leave of her own accord (she was very much prepared to go into politics a long time ago), or if CN will ever have to gently nudge her.

 

[tigerrouge]

Yes, Helen Gurley Brown was kept on at a time when magazines could afford to keep someone on a retainer; in part, it was a PR move to ensure they weren't seen as dumping this famous name in the industry because she'd gotten too old. They kept her because they could still squeeze some use out of her name and existence.

And in reality, her job seemed to consist of arriving at an office each day where several assistants would talk her through international editions of the magazine that were already printed. It was certainly a a move that benefitted both parties that wouldn't be afforded in this day and age.

 

[vogue28]

What's the deal with American Glamour? The last digital issue they put out was for June... the magazine has disappeared into oblivion.

 

[GivenchyAddict]

^and let it be that way

 

[TZ001]

British Vogue Circulation Details: https://www.abc.org.uk/Certificates/49443682.pdf

 

[dodencebt]

Great to see that Naomi Campbell sold well (although March is a well selling month in general for Vogue UK, I believe), and Kate being their top seller so far this year. Loved Zoe's cover too, so no surprise that it sold well. And Emma's and Naomi Scott's were personally my least favorite covers, so..

 

[axiomatic]

Part of an investigation into the media and Epstein.

Soon after publication, Connolly says, Carter called to share an ominous development: a bullet placed right outside his front door at his Manhattan home.

"That wasn't a coincidence," Connolly says.

Even in the absence of any evidence Epstein was involved, Connolly says, both Carter and he considered the bullet a clear warning from Epstein. Another former colleague, who spoke on condition of anonymity, recalls receiving an anguished call from Carter linking the bullet to Epstein. (NPR asked Carter repeatedly over the course of a week for his recollections of the bullet incident along with other elements presented here. After this story was broadcast and posted, his spokeswoman wrote to say Carter recalled the bullet appearing in 2004, not 2003.)

In 2006, federal authorities compiled accusations against Epstein in Florida. Connolly says he headed south to see if there was a story there for Vanity Fair.

As Connolly pursued interviews with women who had worked for Epstein, he says, Carter called him once more. The editor had found another intrusion, this time in the front yard of his Connecticut home: the severed head of a dead cat.

 

[vogue28]

I do wonder if the price of British Vogue comes into play with those figures? The majority of the high-sellers this year have been priced at £2, yet Naomi Scott's cover was full priced here and has considerably lower sales figures. Perhaps sporadic buyers of Vogue refuse to pay full price when they only paid £2 previously? Who knows.

Naomi Scott's April cover is still a firm favorite of mine for this whole entire year, such an astonishingly beautiful cover... cannot understand how it is the poorest performer out of the bunch.

Not at all surprised to see Kate Moss as a high earner for British Vogue, stands to reason as to why Shulman had Moss on the cover so much. Also the Zoe Kravitz cover which stood out a mile amongst its competitors, such a juicy and inviting cover shot to captivate buyers.

 

[8eight]

@TZ001 can you get reports for UK GQ Harpers and Elle and Cosmo?