The Audit Bureau of Circulation (ABC) has released its semiannual FAS-FAX report on U.S. consumer magazines, covering July to December 2011.
The champion among subscriptions: AARP [American Association of Retired People], The Magazine, with 22.4 million subscribers, closely followed by AARP: The Bulletin, with 22.2 million. But, these publications are benefits of AARP membership, with its 50+ demographic. Only two other titles in the list are membership-based, being AAA Living and American Legion Magazine.
Excluding those, Better Homes and Gardens tops the list, with 22.2 million subscribers—down just a hair from 2010. BHG (a Meredith title) claims a monthly readership of 38.33 million readers, 30.28 million of whom are women.
There is likely very little crossover in demographics between BHG and #4 on the list—Game Informer, covering the interactive gaming market. Publisher Sunrise Publications offers no insight into its demographics (which presumably reflects those of gamers, being largely male and under 30).
10% downtick at newsstands
Still, single-copy sales were down 9.96 percent during the period, which Media Life called the “steepest slide in the last four reporting periods.” Single-copy sales across 408 consumer titles dropped from 32,118,948 in the latter half of 2011 to 28,919,153. They were down 9.15 percent during the first half of 2011, and down down 7.27 percent latter 2010.
Ad pages were down in 2011 as well, and consumers likely cut back on impulse buys, particularly of celebrity titles like OK!. Newsstand sales of OK! Plummeted 27.5 percent. Women’s titles suffered as well, with Oprah Winfrey’s O down 32%.
Still, publishers are pushing valiantly into the digital space—a good move: According researchers GfK MRI, almost three-quarters (71%) of tablet owners say they are interested in reading magazines on their devices. Publishers are not surrendering on the newsstands, either. Yesterday marked the launch of a revamped Ladies’ Home Journal, (12th among paid subscriberships in latter 2011, absent from the top 25 in newsstand sales). In addition to a new look and logo, the new content creation model invites readers for a stipend to submit personal growth stories—ostensibly for a more engaged readership.
Upfront TV: “Sons of Anarchy” Renewed | NBC Dooms “The Firm” | 20/20 Dominates 18-49
- Before Season 5 even airs, FX has renewed its biker drama “Sons of Anarchy” for a sixth season, reports TVByTheNumbers, and creator Kurt Sutter has been signed to a new three-year deal. “Sons of Anarchy” is expected to return in October of this year. The Season 4 premiere, which aired September 6 of 2011, was the most-watched program in FX history, with 6.5 million viewers.
- NBC has “effectively cancelled” the lawyer-in-trouble drama “The Firm,” reports Broadcasting & Cable. NBC has moved the series to the Saturdays 9 p.m. slot to “burn off” its remaining original episodes. “The Firm” was on Thursdays at 10 p.m. (a slot held for more than a decade by “E.R.”). NBC will premiere its new drama “Awake” beginning March 1, with repeats of “Grimm” running in the slot until then. “The Firm” drew a meager 0.8 rating with adults 18-49 in last Thursday’s airing.
- ABC finished #1 on Friday among adults 18-49; the network crowed in a press release that “it was the Net’s 4th straight Friday to deliver the #1 position against its network rivals.” ABC’s 20/20 took the night’s #1 position among that key young-adult demographic. Perhaps it was the subject matter: 20/20 featured an in-depth look at marriage and divorce, Hollywood style.
- More signs of struggle at the Oprah Winfrey Network (OWN); “The Rosie Show” shed more staffers last week, to a total of 30 employees and contractors, and has moved taping to a smaller studio. As Crain’s Chicago Business describes, host O’Donnell is trying to “find the right formula to boost ratings,” which now average only 200,000 viewers, as opposed to its premier at 500,000. The show has done away with some fun-based elements like a game show segment, in favor of one-on-one interviews.
Prepare for HuffPost Streaming Network
The online journal Huffington Post and owner AOL will launch a video-streaming network between Q2 and Q3, with 12 hours of programming running five days a week.
Journalist and founder Arianna Huffington announced the network yesterday in an enthusiastic post on her website, nicknamed “HuffPo.” As she described, AOL had acquired HuffPo a year ago this week. HuffPost Streaming Network will be overseen by founding editor Roy Sekoff and will sit on every available platform, including desktops, smartphones, tablets and “over-the-top TV,” that is, off network. “We won't be limited by the usual time constraints of TV,” claims Huffington.
While the network will launch with 12 hours of programming, HuffPo plans to increase that to 16 hours by end-of-year 2013. Sekoff described plans for a “never-ending talk show,” and plans to post 30,000 clips during the first year, writes WWD. Content will “emulate the online experience,” writes Huffington, with its impressive—albeit largely unqualified—statistics. Huffington claimed in her announcement the site has 36.2 million unique visitors a month, where its advertising section claims 28. Huffington further claims 253,331 new comments on a single day (January 25 2012) and 1.4 million Facebook referrals.
The Huffington Post advertiser section appears both on its site and on AOL, and enthuses to advertisers that it is “Breaking the news—and the mold.” HuffPo offers only vague statements about its demographic. Their breakdown of their reach:
- 12.8M women every month, who HuffPo reminds advertisers “control 85% of household spending”
- HuffPo visitors are “more likely to have a [household income] of over 150K than average internet users”
- “More likely to have a post-graduate degree than average internet users”
- “More likely to be business decision-makers than average internet users”
Research: Digital Magazines Attract Male Readers, Stretch Ad Exposures on Tablets
Old ads may find new life on tablets, suggests new research from GfK MRI. The market research firm surveyed its iPanel, composed exclusively of Tablet and eReader owners. Among other findings: male tablet computer owners are particularly interested in reading digital magazines, and that tablets generate readership of back issues of publications (meaning more exposures for long-ago ad purchases).
According to the GfK MRI iPanel, almost three-quarters (71%) of Tablet owners say they are interested in reading magazines on their devices. Men, in particular, are open to digital magazine reading: 77% of male tablet owners expressed interest in reading magazines on their device versus 68% of female owners. Among younger male Tablet owners, ages 18 to 34, 85% expressed interest in reading magazines on their device.
Moreover, digital magazines seem to be sparking new reading behavior among consumers. For instance, almost one-fifth (19%) of tablet owners who read a magazine on their device in the last 30 days also took the opportunity to read back issues of a title during their reading session. In this instance, there was little difference between genders, with 20% of males having read back issues compared to 19% of females.
"The fact that younger men who own tablets are interested in reading digital magazines bodes well for digital magazine advertisers, since this demographic has been historically hard to reach," said Risa Becker, SVP Research at GfK MRI.
The most popular way in which tablet owners read a magazine or magazine-related content is with an App. Almost two-thirds (65%) of tablet owners who read a magazine on their device in the last 30 days did so via an App; 47% of tablet owners accessed magazine content on their devices by visiting a magazine's website; and 37% read a digital reproduction of a magazine, which includes both print content and advertisements.
Advertise to Mobile Gamers With Rewards, Not Banners
Advertisers are finding that banner ads in mobile games are viewed as an annoyance, reports Digiday. Companies like Kiip and Appsavvy, and San Francisco-based Gimmie, have found an alternative: rewarding game players with coupons or points toward a purchase.
Advertisers using Kiip applications offer what Kiip calls “Real Rewards for Virtual Achievements.” A player who, for example, achieves a high score in “Slam Dunk Basketball” may receive congratulations and an offer from such consumer brands as Sephora, Carl’s Jr., Dr. Pepper and 1-800-Flowers.
Thusfar, no market research exists to quantify the benefits to those advertisers, or to the game developers who incorporate Kiip, AppSavvy or Gimmie (now in private beta testing). But Kiip CEO Brian Wong estimates the number of mobile game players in the U.S. is 15 million, and growing; and increasingly female. But in addition to those top brands, in-game reward developers are attracting heavy investment. Kiip was incorporated only in July 2010, and has since received $4.4 million in funding from True Ventures, Hummer Winblad Venture Partners, and Crosslink Capital. Appsavvy has received $3.1 million in first round funding, also led by True Ventures, and a private investment by About.com Founder Scott Kurnit.
QR and “Action Codes” Doubled in 2011 Magazine Ads
A full 8% of magazine ads in December 2011 included action codes (including quick-response or QR codes), up from 3.6% in January. That according to mobile technology provider Nellymoser, and reported in Adweek.
The company surveyed the top 100 magazine titles throughout the year, and offers these findings:
- 4,468 codes appeared in the top 100 magazines during 2011
- Only 352 codes appeared in Q1, and grew to 1,899 in Q4, for 439% growth
- Advertisers drove the growth with 4,011 codes, while editorial (supporting the publisher or magazine) drove the remainder
Nearly 40% of the codes came under beauty, fashion and home. Top users were John Frieda with 82, L’Oreal with 79, Cuisinart with 74, Garnier with 72 and Revlon with 67. That is why most of the codes were in women’s magazine titles, and the top 10 included InStyle, Self, Allure, Glamour and Shape.
Male-oriented titles using QR codes included ESPN Magazine, Sports Illustrated and Wired. Advertisers in male-oriented magazines tended toward electronics (Bose, Samsung), credit cards (American Express) and retailers (American Eagle).
Finally, advertisers used QR codes for four types of campaigns:
- Video demonstrations and branding (e.g., a look behind the scenes)
- Data capture and list building (e.g., with sweepstakes)
- Links to e-commerce sites and store locators for brick-and-mortar locations.
- Social media sharing with links to Facebook and Twitter.
The significance of QR codes is that 18% of those who regularly scan the codes are moved to purchase. Magazines represent the highest use of QR codes (versus billboards and on-screen ads) at 35%.
February’s Magazine Ad Gainers Include Allure, Traditional Home and - Surprise! - Smithsonian
Beauty and lifestyle magazines continue to lead the pack among ad gainers. Condé Nast owns three of five magazines that gained in February issue ad pages, reports Access Intelligence. Its minOnline boxscore tracks ad page gains and losses across 150 titles.
Comparing February 2012 to February 2011, beauty-and-fashion title Allure jumped 32.21 pages, for a 56.67% gain. Teen Vogue was second, with 15.95 pages and a 34.78% gain, and Self rounded out the top five with 19.96% gain.
Traditional Home, a Meredith property, was third with a 34.87% gain, and 13.43 pages. Publisher Beth Brenner cited an “editorial refresh,” with more eye-friendly design and larger product shots.
The one lone cultural publication among those lifestyle magazines—also the only independent publication—was Smithsonian, published by The Smithsonian Institution, which gained 41.22%. New advertisers to the February Obsession-themed include Norway Tourism, Mexico Tourism and Advair, with advertisers like Toyota Prius, Celebrex and Prudential returning. Group publisher Jennifer Hicks believes new editor Michael Caruso, former Los Angeles magazine editor, has generated enthusiasm among advertisers. Smithsonian is also the only magazine with a strong male readership, at 48%.
These said Access Intelligence were exceptions to an “overall dismal February,” with only 53 of 150 titles registering gains, and a cumulative loss of -6.56% across all titles.
“Singletons” Ignored by Advertisers, But Spend $1.9 Trillion a Year
Advertisers are just waking up to unmarried adult “singletons,” according to a Fortune story. Despite the perception of miserable loners sitting at home, they socialize up to five nights a week, and spend more than $10,000 per person per year more than married counterparts with children.
The Fortune story was adapted from the book Going Solo: The Extraordinary Rise and Surprising Appeal of Living Alone, by New York University sociology professor Eric Klinenberg. Among Klinenberg’s findings:
- 28% of U.S. households now consist of one person, 40% of city households
- Average per capita annual expenditure was $34,471 in 2010, versus $23,179 per person in high-income households with children
- The majority of singletons is female, at 18 million versus 14 million men
- 18-34 year olds are the smallest but fastest growing demographic
Singletons spend their discretionary income largely on socializing several nights a week at bars and restaurants, in special-interest clubs and joining gyms. This, speculated CEO David Eastman of advertising giant JWT, is why alcohol advertisers like Smirnoff now favor images of friends at communal tables, versus couples. Elsewhere, Nestlé reported that 90% of its Lean Cuisine meals are eaten alone, and failed when it attempted to market double-serving meals.
Still, the singleton demographic is largely untapped. Only a handful of big-ticket advertisers, including Norwegian Cruise Lines, Coldwell Banker, Lowe’s, Chevrolet and DeBeers have targeted singles. DeBeers now offers a “right-hand ring,” a diamond designed for single women, and Norwegian Cruise Lines offers “studio staterooms” for single travelers.
Meredith Acquires Allrecipes.com, Expects “Significant Increase” In Digital Scale
Meredith Corporation, publishers of Better Homes, Family Circle and Parents and their accompanying websites, has acquired Allrecipes.com from The Reader’s Digest Association.
Meredith CEO Steve Lacy calls Allrecipes.com “The market leader in the digital food space…[the acquisition] more than doubles the scale of the Meredith Women’s Digital Network.” Allrecipes.com has a database of over 500,000 recipes. Its U.S. audience is 70% female with a mean household income of $73,000, and claims to reach nine out of 10 primary grocery decision makers. Allrecipes.com further claims its mobile apps have been downloaded by over 11 million consumers, and that it is the top food recipe channel on YouTube.
Along with the Allrecipes.com title, Meredith gains access to the site’s proprietary search engine optimization (SEO) expertise, which it will apply across Meredith’s other digital properties. They also buy market penetration: Allrecipes.com has 17 sites in 22 countries. Despite its present reach, Allrecipes.com charges a fairly modest $6 cost-per-thousand (CPM) for run-of-site display ads, and $10 CPM for targeted display ads.
Food titles, in both digital and print, are hot properties. Food Network Magazine has just seen its seventh ratebase jump since late 2009. And the top five digital magazines of 2011, in terms of percent gain of unique visitors, included two food titles, Saveur.com, and Bonappetit.com.
From the Allrecipes.com media kit.
True Crime Gold for Lifetime Television: Peterson Film Draws 5.8 Million
The Lifetime Original Movie Drew Peterson: Untouchable drew 5.8 million viewers on Saturday night, for a 4.25 household rating, reports Multichannel News. The two-hour thriller stared Rob Lowe as Drew Peterson, the former police officer suspected of murdering his fourth wife. The film averaged 2.5 million adults 25 to 54, a leap of 233% from the network's original movie premiere average in 2011, and 1.5 million females 18 to 49, up 178% from average.
Lifetime Television’s original films follow a “women-in-peril” formula, with titles like Mother, May I Sleep With Danger? and Murder in the Hamptons. But the cable network’s formula for success appears to be high-profile true-crime stories. Untouchable was Lifetime’s best performance for a Lifetime Original Movie since its January 3, 2011 broadcast of The Craigslist Killer. The network is owned by A&E Television Networks, Hearst Corporation and Disney, and NBC Universal is a minority shareholder.