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A Reader's Question: How Can We Avoid Having the Digital Part of Our Audience Ignored by a Circulation Audit?

Posted on Thursday, July 01, 2010 at 7:50 PM

Q. Perhaps you can explain a way out of a circulation problem we're having. Our publication is audited by ABC, and I'm having trouble getting them to count all of our paid audience. We have a breaking news section that is very popular. In fact, our reader research tells that almost 20 percent of our subscribers get the magazine just for that feature. Most read nothing else. Two years ago, we moved that content online, password protected, and removed it from the print content to better serve the readers. This has been very well received. Many of those breaking news readers have asked about opting out of the print portion because they don't need it anymore. In response, we started offering that option. So here's my dilemma. The size and profile of our readership remains the same. But, as the 20 percent who have only been interested in the breaking news opt out of the print copies, according to ABC rules, apparently our rate base is declining. But, of course, it is not.

A. First of all, I wish to congratulate you on your use of an adaptive strategy with your breaking news section. What you've done is a good example of delivering different parts of your magazine via the most appropriate channels.

We described your circulation audit dilemma to ABC senior vice president for communications and strategic planning Neal Lulofs. He offers a couple of suggestions. The first is that you consider your online breaking news section as a non-replica edition, which would be reported in Paragraph 1 of the ABC reports. Lulofs adds, "…this magazine could easily explain to its advertiser partners where the digital edition is reported and how its audience is not declining based on the new distribution strategy by pointing out the data on an ABC report." His other suggestion is that you "use an ABC Multimedia Report that includes website traffic activity, such as unique users and page impressions in Paragraph 1A. The magazine could even opt to separate out its breaking news section and give more detailed statistics on the type of readers visiting this area of the website that potential advertisers may find helpful when creating their media plans."

So, there doesn't seem to be a problem in getting your breaking news readers reported. What's left comes down to whether they are reported as part of your rate base. Lulofs points out that claiming a rate base is optional. One remedy would be to stop claiming a rate base and simply report your audience size in its various dimensions.

I can understand why you might not want to do that, though. A rate base is in effect your guarantee to advertisers about the size of your audience. Lulofs suggests that in a unified print edition or its digital replica, ads are presented in "an editorial environment that encourages ad readership." That seems to imply that the "encouragement" exists only if fairly identical ad and edit contents are all bundled, whether in print or digital packages.

You present an interesting example of the inapplicability of that concept. If up to 20 percent of your readers read the print edition for the breaking news section and nothing more, there isn't much of an "environment of encouragement" to read ads in other parts of the magazine. Over the years, studies of various magazines have shown that through-the-book readership is typically less than 100 percent. There can be considerable variance from publication to publication. And, what's to say that in your digital breaking news section, there can't be content or links that could actually encourage ad readership either in the print part of your magazine or its digital replica?

The idea that a magazine is a spatially unified collection of advertising and editorial represents a bygone era, an old business paradigm. More and more, magazines will be reinventing themselves. Some of a magazine's content may be delivered in print, some online, some by email. Each is a vital piece of what adds up to be a solitary magazine brand. The components aren't separate editions, they're parts of the whole. Thinking otherwise seems to be paradigmatically anchored to the past.

Circulation auditing rules that don't take this into account will tend to favor a status quo based on the print model. It seems to me that it is not valid for an auditing organization to impose that. It places forward-looking publishers at a disadvantage. An auditing organization should count and certify audience and rate base in whatever form a publisher may have aggregated it. Telling publishers what is or is not audience or rate base would seem to be outside the franchise of an auditing organization. We'll send ABC a copy of this article with the request that they consider updating their notion of what constitutes a magazine in this day and age.

(Note: More on this topic will appear in the forthcoming June issue of STRAT Newsletter. Look for "Digital Readers: Second-Class Citizens?" by research editor Meredith L. Dias.)

Get Ready for a Comeback!

Posted on Wednesday, February 10, 2010 at 3:41 PM

Priorities are now shifting from how to cope with the economic crisis to how to make a comeback.

Most of you out there are probably in one of two categories: The first includes those publications that held their own -- or even did better -- during the recession. Yes, there really are publications that actually improved their revenues during the tough times! The other category consists of those of you whose fortunes faded as the economy fell deeper into recession. Some of you had to reduce staff, reduce pages, and reduce expectations. You've had to deal with a lot of painful choices.

Regardless of which category you're in, and regardless of whether this recession looks to you like it's ending or not, you need to start focusing on making a comeback. Those who experienced little or no hardship may be thinking, "There's no need for a comeback, we're still good." But your competitors may be preparing for a comeback. Competition is bound to be getting stiffer, and you've got to prepare for that.

On the other hand, if you're in a place from which you need to make a real comeback yourself, now is the time to start planning your return.

A New Landscape

It's important to realize that things aren't simply going back to how they were pre-recession. I don't mean just for you, but for the whole field or community that your publication serves. The recession has been an event that has made its mark. There will be a different post-recession landscape.

For one thing, reading habits of many have changed. With favorite publications folding or dropping in page count, many consumers have had to rely more upon online alternatives. Some may welcome a return of more print content. Others won't. Many will have developed a preference for online content consumption. There's a general trend in that direction, anyway. You'll need to find out what's been going on with your readers and prospective readers. That will give you a clue as to how best to serve them with an appropriate mix of print and online content.

Not only have a lot of readers developed a taste for online content, many advertisers have also acquired new respect for online advertising. Some may want to resume a heavier print schedule. Others will be looking to expand online. Start looking at the directions in which your advertisers are going. There are likely many ways you can provide a real service to advertisers by offering added online opportunities.

While this all may require adapting to new circumstances, a sometimes uncomfortable process, it is nonetheless good news. The new landscape portends an increased demand for content on the part of readers, and an upswing in spending by the advertisers.

Focus on Efficacy

Despite whatever the reader and advertiser predilections may be for print vs. online, don't regard what they're thinking and saying as the whole picture. It's still your responsibility as publisher to evaluate how you can provide the greatest value to them.

Here's an example of what I mean. If an advertiser wants to move a lot of advertising from print to online, help him to define his sales or marketing objectives, and to analyze what mix of channels will be the biggest help in achieving the goals. Some advertisers may be focusing on online just because it's trendy. The concrete result of counted clicks also leads many to a greater sense of getting something for their advertising dollars. If image and brand promotion is an important objective, however, you might recommend that they keep print as a key element of their program. Conversely, some advertisers just like print. They're reluctant to use online. But if they are looking for a direct response from their advertising, it would behoove you to get them to try online advertising.

Time of Opportunity

After facing a perhaps bleak existence for some time, it's all too easy to fail to recognize the opportunities ahead. Indeed, this is a time of opportunity. It is an opportunity for you to correct flaws in your business model that may have limited your success of late. It is an opportunity to retool for the new media landscape that has been developing and will continue to develop. And it is an opportunity for you to make strategic plans for riding the wave of economic recovery.

Most importantly, it is time for you to make a comeback. Get ready now. Don't miss that opportunity!

Distressed Print Publications Making Mistakes

Posted on Thursday, July 09, 2009 at 1:49 PM

It's no secret that a lot of print publications are suffering. Advertising is down. Subscriptions are down. The only thing that's up is the number of casualties. Some major publications have already shut down, along with a host of smaller ones.

Many publications, however, are transitioning from print to online as a means of cutting costs. After all, with revenues down, it would seem to make good sense to reduce costs wherever possible. Switching to an online presentation can almost instantly cut out a big chunk of expense: paper, printing, distribution.

For most publications that have been print-only, developing an effective online strategy is long overdue. Today's readers have different expectations for how news and information should be provided to them. The print-only model for many is a relic of yesteryear.

That doesn't mean that there's no role for print in the mix. There are still a lot of things that can be provided with greater utility in print than online. But the idea of all print all the time has little relevance today.

That said, many distressed print publications are making transitions to online that are ill advised.

Coping with a recessionary period has always put a strain on publishers. Usually, when companies that use media advertising start feeling the pinch, advertising budgets are among the first to be cut. As a result, publishers are among the first to feel the pains of recession.

My consulting firm has worked with publishers through quite a number of recessionary periods. As a result, we've been able to observe some general patterns that seem to repeat themselves each time. We've seen publishers that are able to withstand tough economic times with only a minimal amount of sacrifice. For some, business even improves. Others, however, have their very existence threatened.

What's the difference? Why do some thrive, while others fail? My own observation is that the publishing companies that ran into the most trouble were operating with troubled business strategies in the first place. When times were good, they were able to coast along and even turn a profit. But when the going got tough, they didn't have the inherent strength to keep going.

That process reminds me of awhile back when my car was overdue for a tune-up. When I cruised along on a flat stretch of road, it ran with no apparent problems. But, if I drove up a steep hill, the engine would start to sputter and cough, and the car had trouble making it up the hill.

In past recessions, when publishing companies in need of a strategic tune-up began having trouble making ends meet, many realized something was amiss. That led them to address the primary dysfunction that existed in their business plans and strategies. As a result, many were able to pull through the recession and emerge even stronger.

The problem today is that instead of having that epiphany and subsequent adoption of new business strategies, the publishers are merely opting to cut out the major print-related expenses and go online. That's a mistake.

It's true that they begin saving money. But in the end they're not saving their publications. That's because they haven't routed out and changed the old dysfunctional business concepts that led them to the trouble they're in. What many publishers are doing is simply taking their print-style content, along with their old business models, and moving them online.

They're buying some time with this move. But they haven't fixed the underlying problems. In effect, they're masking the symptoms rather than addressing the cause.

Solid, sustainable results from publishing operations are best achieved by using a sound, synergistic business model. An economic downturn is a wonderful time to fix longstanding flaws in your business model. Doing so will help you survive the tough period. And it will also put you in a much stronger position for attaining even greater levels of success when economic conditions rebound.

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