In the news: The magazine industry is promising print advertisers ROI or their money back.

The MPA has taken a bold new tack in its quest to solidify credibility with advertisers. The association has established a new guarantee, reportedly adopted by several of the major publishing houses, to print advertisers that purchase ad pages. If advertisers don't reap increased sales after running an ad, a participating magazine will refund their money or offer free ad pages. The move comes as part of MPA's ongoing quest to restore advertiser confidence in print advertising -- a quest that began last year when the group started offering monthly print and online audience measurement tools.

It's important for publishers to read the fine print, though. According to WSJ.com, "To qualify for the guarantee, a print campaign needs to reach approximately 125 million adults 18 years old and over an average of three times during a 12-month period, be it through ads in a single title or across a company's entire portfolio of magazines." Read more about the guarantee here and here.

Also Notable

Consumer Magazines in 2015

This week, Baird Davis of Foliomag.com discussed the current state of the consumer print magazine industry, which is in a state of transition as it adapts to digital. The central issue, he writes, is that "print revenue remains the foundation on which most consumer magazines are being sustained during this transition period. The overriding problem is that every year print revenues decline, weakening publisher's print foundations." He analyzes circulation and subscription numbers from 2007 through the first half of this year. Read the full article here.

The Current State of the NYT

The New York Times has seen significant digital subscription growth this year, with over 50,000 new digital subscribers. Ad and print sales are down, but print is down just 1 percent, a marked improvement over a decline of nearly 13 percent in the previous quarter. The windfall from the new digital subscriptions contributed to higher-than-forecast profits for this quarter. Read more here.

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