Back in the summer, Hearst announced that their Company magazine will no longer be in print after its October issue (Deans, 2014). Personally, I was surprised to hear this, since the magazine had been through a complete redesign in 2012 (Barber, 2012) and had a strong voice across all media platforms. I even own a few numbers, most of them bought at the airport, and I always found their features to be not only fun, but also mature when needed, which was a good thing for such a young audience. However, the content in the magazine can be easily found online - for free. Especially since there are quite a few so-called 'beauty vloggers' on YouTube who will offer advice on anything that young women may be concerned with. One of them is Zoella, who already has a book contract with Penguin and well over 6 million subscribers!
However, as McKay mentions in The Magazines Handbook, while a lot of people working in the industry would rather not think about the business side of things, this is crucial to a magazine’s success. The cost of one issue will not cover the costs of printing it, so magazines often turn to advertisers for another source of income. That being said, in Company’s case, the number of sold issues has dropped considerably in the last year. In the latest ABC report, the number of issues sold showed a decline from September 2013 to January 2014. While the numbers fluctuated throughout the months, it’s important to note that sales were initially of 115.803 and dropped to 56.245.
From this, it’s obvious that Hearst had to change the business model of its brand in order to prevent a bigger loss, which would explain the decision to take Company off-print. However, the brand will continue to exist and produce revenue through its website and social media accounts. And since all magazines are expected nowadays to have an online presence (Johnson and Prijatel, 2012), it wasn't hard for Company to make the change.
At a first glance, it is obvious that the website is being used for advertisers the way a printed magazine would be.
However, a new addition is the Taboola service, which has been adopted by all of Hearst’s brands on their official websites. For publishers, Taboola is a source of revenue using third-party content and increasing organic re-circulation, meaning that advertisers will pay for their content to show up as recommendations on the publisher's website, while Taboola promises that it will reveal content which will make the website more engaging - in our case, the Company website.
In conclusion, Company has decided to change its business model to a completely digital one, and while it was necessary, it will be interesting to see if this will bring it more popularity and establish an even bigger community online.
Word count: 458
Bibliography
Audit Bureau of Circulation, (2013) Consumers Magazines Issue by Issue Report, [online] Available at: http://www.abc.org.uk/Certificates-Reports/Our-Reports/Consumer-Magazine---Issue-by-Issue-report/ [Accessed: 25 October 2014]
Barber, L. (2012) Company magazine unveils redesign. [online] Available at: http://www.mediaweek.co.uk/article/1112068/company-magazine-unveils-redesign [Accessed: 26 October 2014]
Deans, J. (2014) Company magazine to go digital-only amid falling sales. [online] Available at: http://www.theguardian.com/media/2014/aug/13/company-magazine-digital-only-print-edition [Accessed: 25 October 2014]
Johnson, S. and Prijatel, P. (2012). The Magazine from Cover to Cover. Oxford: Oxford University Press
McKay, J. (2013) The Magazines Handbook. 3rd edn. London: Routledge
Taboola, (2014) Monetize Content, [online] Available at: https://taboola.com/monetize-content [Accessed: 24 October 2014]
However, as McKay mentions in The Magazines Handbook, while a lot of people working in the industry would rather not think about the business side of things, this is crucial to a magazine’s success. The cost of one issue will not cover the costs of printing it, so magazines often turn to advertisers for another source of income. That being said, in Company’s case, the number of sold issues has dropped considerably in the last year. In the latest ABC report, the number of issues sold showed a decline from September 2013 to January 2014. While the numbers fluctuated throughout the months, it’s important to note that sales were initially of 115.803 and dropped to 56.245.
From this, it’s obvious that Hearst had to change the business model of its brand in order to prevent a bigger loss, which would explain the decision to take Company off-print. However, the brand will continue to exist and produce revenue through its website and social media accounts. And since all magazines are expected nowadays to have an online presence (Johnson and Prijatel, 2012), it wasn't hard for Company to make the change.
At a first glance, it is obvious that the website is being used for advertisers the way a printed magazine would be.
However, a new addition is the Taboola service, which has been adopted by all of Hearst’s brands on their official websites. For publishers, Taboola is a source of revenue using third-party content and increasing organic re-circulation, meaning that advertisers will pay for their content to show up as recommendations on the publisher's website, while Taboola promises that it will reveal content which will make the website more engaging - in our case, the Company website.
In conclusion, Company has decided to change its business model to a completely digital one, and while it was necessary, it will be interesting to see if this will bring it more popularity and establish an even bigger community online.
Word count: 458
Bibliography
Audit Bureau of Circulation, (2013) Consumers Magazines Issue by Issue Report, [online] Available at: http://www.abc.org.uk/Certificates-Reports/Our-Reports/Consumer-Magazine---Issue-by-Issue-report/ [Accessed: 25 October 2014]
Barber, L. (2012) Company magazine unveils redesign. [online] Available at: http://www.mediaweek.co.uk/article/1112068/company-magazine-unveils-redesign [Accessed: 26 October 2014]
Deans, J. (2014) Company magazine to go digital-only amid falling sales. [online] Available at: http://www.theguardian.com/media/2014/aug/13/company-magazine-digital-only-print-edition [Accessed: 25 October 2014]
Johnson, S. and Prijatel, P. (2012). The Magazine from Cover to Cover. Oxford: Oxford University Press
McKay, J. (2013) The Magazines Handbook. 3rd edn. London: Routledge
Taboola, (2014) Monetize Content, [online] Available at: https://taboola.com/monetize-content [Accessed: 24 October 2014]