What Happens to Magazines? March 3, 2009

When: March 3rd, 2009 18:30 to 20:00
Location: Lansons Communications, 24a St John Street, London
Price: £25.00

If newspapers are having a hard time, then magazines - more expensive to fill, print and distribute - must be really suffering. The need for innovation, new income streams and a focus on delivering value is urgent.

Deloitte, in its TMT Predictions report for media in 2009, noted that ‘the challenged state of the print industry in developed world markets does not signal the demise of the sector. Rather, 2009 is likely to mark the emergence of a range of new business models, including shared backroom infrastructure and online-only delivery.’

With the communication and interaction style of Web 2.0 offering a standard that readers are now firmly engaged with, current thinking seems to be less focused solely on achieving higher print circulation for traditional magazines. More, how readers hungry for content and connection opportunities can be attracted by brands meeting their needs via new and print/digital-collaborative business models.

It begs the question: as readers, what do we get from print magazines that we can’t get online, and what do we get digitally that we can’t replicate in print?

Will we see more magazine publishers diversifying their revenue streams and seeking to make digital publishing more than just companion sites to their print publications? Print publishing has always had to pay its own way, digital should be able to do the same. Does the consumer expectation of free online content ensure that the only way to make money is via a traditional ad-supported content or are there new models to be explored?

And what can we learn from newspapers? New and revisited print publishing models such as free-to-consumer are looking at traditional ad revenue opportunities via the achievement of low-barrier mass circulation in both newspapers and magazines. At the same time, more and more news content is available, and consumed, online.

"While I do think online content could overtake newspapers, I believe that print magazines - because they are less ephemeral and more enduring, because they are more beautiful, because they offer perspective and amplify what people get elsewhere - will not be overtaken in the same way as newspapers,”
-Richard Stengel, Managing Editor, Time Magazine. (2007 Chicago Tribune, via Innovations In Newspapers)


Are readers still attached to the beauty of ‘the object’ when it comes to magazines? What makes an online magazine a 'magazine' rather than a collection of pages of content? Are blogs the magazines of the future? What’s the situation with B2B titles versus consumer? These questions and a whole lot more will be addressed by our panel of industry experts:

Panel

Andrew Davies, co-founder of idiomag

Mike Soutar, founder of ShortList

Louise White, group marketing director, Incisive Media

Ashley Norris, director, Shiny Media

chief executive, Anorak Publishing

More to follow…

Should you have any further queries regarding this event or wish to book please contact: [email protected] or visit us at www.nmk.co.uk

Official Website: http://www.nmk.co.uk/event/2009/1/27/what-happens-to-magazines