PUBLICATION PRINTING -- Getting the Numbers To "Ad" Up
"While we are seeing an up tick in pages as the economy rebounds, we do not expect the ad page environment to fully recover for several years," the exec continues. "Following the last recession, in 1990 and 1991, it took until 1996 for pages to return to pre-recession levels."
Knotts believes that industry groups, such as Magazine Publishers of America, must continue to strive toward developing a measurable return for print advertising. It will be difficult for publishers to get an appropriate share of advertising dollars without a way to prove the value of print advertising in economic terms, he says.
Publishers face an uphill battle on that front, says Rick Marcoux, president of Magazine Services at Quebecor World North America. "Even in the face of remote controls, increasing numbers of cable stations and TiVo, television continues to capture more advertising revenue at the expense of magazine ad growth. The immediacy of broadcast, particularly when compared to the long lead times associated with magazines, continues to be a factor in advertisers' media buying decisions. Additionally, agencies still seem to generally view television as the more effective means of delivering client messages since it's viewed as a much more exciting and compelling medium," he explains.
"In response to this attitude, many publishers continue to narrow the focus of their titles, in order to deliver more fully committed audiences that are captivated by the specialized content," Marcoux continues. "Alternatively, some take the approach of capitalizing on strong existing brands through product line extensions of successful magazines, like Vogue launching Teen Vogue or Elle spawning Elle Girl, or Maxim leading to Maxim Goes to the Movies."
In addition, some media companies are pursuing brand extensions by attempting to translate their television success into a magazine audience, says Marcoux. Examples of such multi-channel growth include the ESPN, Oprah and This Old House brands, he notes. "Expectations are that both approaches (to line extensions) will continue to flourish, especially among the more financially secure publishers who remain focused on long-term growth," the printing exec adds.
