A Model for the Magazine Industry

A Model for the Magazine Industry – This post from Joe Wikert’s Publishing 2020 Blog outlines an interesting, even desirable system for syndicating magazines through a Kindle like system. The only problem with it is that it won’t work – it won’t save the industry.

Without a doubt it could be a part of where we end up, but the system as outlined in Wikert’s post suffers from the fatal flaw that almost all these new models – for both newspapers and magazines – suffer from. It’s an editorially driven solution.

To his credit Wikert does at least realize that a model that doesn’t address advertising is a bankrupt model (I’m just talking about traditional consumer space here – I realize other models can and will do without ad revenue – but that’s another post) and he does his best to shoehorn an ad based revenue stream into his – but it’s still the underperforming CPM display model that is the foundation of the traditional consumer magazine. If there is one thing that is fairly clear at this point in the game it’s that the explosion of competition and the abundance of inventory in the digital space has killed display advertising as a primary revenue generator. Display will never be as profitable in the digital space as it is/was in print.

Ultimately any new digital model for consumer based, ad supported magazines is going to have to rethink the development of ad revenue. The days of selling space are quickly disappearing – sales has to pick up its game. Publishers need to retool their operations so that they can position themselves as solutions providers. Advertisers are now clients – full page ads are now full fledged campaigns.

This new tack is going to require some rather intense restructuring as clients will now require more than just a sales contact. Account support will need to be enhanced, creative teams will need to be built, production and design will need to be re-imagined. This is not your father’s magazine workflow.

It it sounds like what I’m describing is an advertising agency – you’re hearing me right. This model will be a shot across the agency bow. It’s a necessary shot though. In a networked, digital world the supply chain is compressed – once important links in that chain are displaced by automation and digital convenience. We’ve seen it happen time and again over the last two decades – prepress houses, color shops, paste-up and stat camera operators have all faced a change or die proposition over that time. Now that compression is affecting the creative link in the chain.

The good news for publishers is that we occupy the most important part of the chain – we provide the emotional and creative link to the consumer. It’s going to be a lot easier for us to build our workflow backwards to service the client in agency fashion than it will be for the agency to build their workflow forward and forge a trusted, editorial relationship with our readers.

Inevitably there will have to be something of a confluence of agency and publication talent – perhaps (in extreme cases) even formal mergers of publishing and agency houses. The smart and the lucky will be able to navigate this change and we should see a lot of familiar titles (brands if you want to go there) preserved in the process.

Anyway, I’ve gone on a bit longer than I anticipated here and what I’ve dumped above is pretty tightly packed – so I’m just going to back away from the keyboard, get a cup of coffee, and let this marinate – please don’t hesitate to add your thoughts – this cake ain’t baked yet.