ABC Consumer Jul-Dec 2011: Agency Views

Once again what at first glance looks a less than positive set of ABC performances is in reality the reflection of a market still experiencing and embracing significant change.

There are comparisons to be drawn between sectors and continuity is the name of the game as far as print circulations go. Malaise still envelops the general interest sectors and special interest sectors continue to grow. Those sectors better targeted towards digital delivery of their content – be it because of the content itself or the audience they try to reach – continue to see overall net growth in readership.

Whilst print editions currently account for over 80% of a publisher’s income, the latest ABC report outlines for the first time the digital edition distribution. It’s important to note at this juncture that this captures only emagazines or similar ‘PDF’ versions available on tablets.

Even more exciting are the numbers of interactive ‘apps’ available on both tablet and smartphone that are not yet captured. Publishers such as Dennis, Future and Economist Group, who have made early forays into this area, should begin to reap the benefits when ABC later this year pull together all print and digital metrics into one report across individual brands.

From this point in time the competitors will remain largely the same, but we shall begin to see a more 3D picture of a publisher’s output and reach. The challenge will be in monetising the fantastic content they produce, via new delivery methods.

The ABC results released today show another set of overwhelmingly discouraging figures, with only a handful of titles having any reason to celebrate.

There seems to be a clear trend of readers losing interest with celebrities or at least reading about their lives in magazines; with key titles such as Heat, Reveal, Now and OK! all posting significant decreases.

Platforms such as Mail Online and Twitter (especially celebrity followers) are all showing high increase traffic… surely there is an element of migration going on?

The Men’s Market is a mixed bag with PoP increases for Men’s Health and GQ, though YoY Men’s Health is down 10%. Both Nuts and Zoo have also followed the trend with a long awaited PoP increase, but double digit YoY decreases. In general there is an interesting trend of the less salacious titles posting more positive figures.

There is a glimmer of positivity with some of the well-established Women’s Lifestyle brands, with Hearst’s Good Housekeeping and Prima as well as IPC’s Marie Claire posting increases both PoP and YoY – giving advertisers some confidence in the sector.

The “freemium” model appears to be holding its own, with both ShortList and Stylist demonstrating an increase PoP and YoY. However, the more genre specific free title ‘Sport‘ has posted a slight dip. We will have to wait and see whether there will be any new entrants into this now well established market.

The diversification in multiplatform formats – online, mobile and iPad for example is going to play a key part in the magazine sectors survival.

Today’s ABC release highlights the urgent need for accurate cross platform reporting. It’s a step in the right direction that we now have details of digital editions but what about consumers who access them through multiple touch points from apps, mobile, digital and tablets.

I’m not starting the age old debate over the ‘headline figure’, just saying these days it’s about much more than the newsstand. We need a clear breakdown of who is accessing the brand and how. For some time now magazines have talked about being ‘brands’ and often tell us how many people can be reached through this brand yet none of this comes in to play on ABC day.

Publishers also need to act quickly and finally get their teams up to speed on how to sell said brands. With Bauer’s restructure firmly in place and many agencies adapting to the ‘cross buy’, the ABC’s highlight the urgent need to sell more than the number of people buying the magazine.

Agencies also need to take note of these changes. We understand the changing consumer but many clients will see double digit drops and consider reducing print spends. Without education from us any brand extension could be tarred with the same brush.

Finally, in response to anyone who says ‘press is dead’ the printed edition may well be on the decline but the heritage press brands that we know and love remain strong.

As the country’s economy seems to be struggling to fight back from the recession, some titles are still facing some upheavals. There is no denying that women’s weeklies are facing a challenging time as many readers go online for their recipes and gossip. The Celebrity market has been hit across the board with Northern & Shell titles Now and Reveal reporting fairly large declines. Even Hello, last period’s success story, faced a declining PoP circulation for want of a decent Royal event. Non-stop covers of Kate Middleton have been fabulous but didn’t prove enough for them to report as high a circulation as last time. With the Diamond Jubilee in June their fortunes may change with the next release of figures.

Traditional and Real Life sectors also report a similar story. In these austere times it seems as though people may be cutting back on weeklies in favour of a monthly that can offer more and feels like a treat. The mature women’s monthly market is one with a good story to tell: titles including Good Housekeeping, Woman and Home and Prima all seem to have ridden the storm with either marginal decreases, or in Prima’s case a 5% increase. Essentials also continued to report a rise. Other titles that have reported success this time around are GQ, Wired, Harper and Marie Claire, proving the luxury, considered read is still an important one.

The release of today’s ABC figures shows some highs and lows for the print market but the new multiplatform certificate should definitely be welcomed and publishers should be utilising this to promote their brand reach if their digital offering is a robust one.

Readers aren’t just interacting with the print product anymore, there are many different touch points for magazines to grow their overall brands. Monthlies are more than the sum of one issue per month, with regular newsletters, apps and a strong online presence, so these figures should now be taken into account. The changes to the market being brought about by digital should be embraced by publishers of monthlies and weeklies alike in order to retain and grow their strong brands.

The latest ABC results demonstrate that people are still investing in magazines. Although some titles have suffered big decreases many titles remain stable, which is reassuring against a backdrop of weak economic growth and high unemployment.

While the monthly upmarket titles remain healthy, it is the weekly mass market real life titles that are suffering – this can be attributed to increased cost of living and less disposable income.

There is still a big battle in the overcrowded celebrity market. Titles with strong brand identities and therefore brand reach like Closer and Heat are coming out on top, whereas those struggling with a distinct personality like Now and Reveal have tended to suffer.

With the exception of FHM the men’s market appears to have stopped hemorrhaging readers and the majority of business and news titles have posted increases, proving people still want news in the printed format.

Despite the uncertainty over the BBC’s future during the last ABC period, the newly formed Immediate Media performed well in the latest ABC’s with overall circulation figures up a nominal 0.2%. Their biggest growth came from some of their kids titles, Toybox and Cbeebies Art. The top performing publishers were Egmont magazines and DC Thompson, both specialists in the kids market, up 5.3% and 3.2% respectively.

These figures do not take into account publisher’s recent and continued investment into the digital arena, and the subsequent growth in their brands overall reach. Magazines have been allowed to include their digital sales figures in ABC data from January 2011. Over the latest ABC period, 72 magazines posted ABC figures for their digital editions. With Apple creating ‘Newsstand’, an area specifically dedicated to digital sales of print publications from last October, we expect that this combined with strong Christmas tablet sales and bespoke tablet editions of magazines, will grow this number further throughout 2012. Nine of the top ten digital magazine editions were men’s magazines showing that the digital format is bringing this audience back into the magazine market, which is great news for advertisers.

Digital editions and evolving brand extensions aside we are pleased with these results as they demonstrate that press remains a key medium in this digital world.

There are few surprises in the latest round of ABC results, with the general trend continuing to be downward, and the same sectors taking a heavy kicking. Most men’s monthlies and weeklies appear to still be dead men walking; the celebrity weekly sector has suffered more heavy losses YoY. Hello and OK! also posted significant PoP losses, meaning they have failed to hold on to the extra sales generated by the Royal Wedding in the first half of 2011. Undoubtedly the doom-mongers will cite these results as further evidence of the death of print, while publishers will blame their favourite catch-all: the recession. But is that what’s really going on here?

Take everyone’s favourite whipping boy (or girl), the Celebrity sector. This recession has certainly proved that the existing magazine marketplace and the volume of publications isn’t sustainable in its entirety. There are far too many publications providing similar content badly! Gone are the days of each magazine having a unique USP on the newsstand and the ability to compete purely on the content it provided or the exclusives it could land. The battleground has become “how many magazines can I fit into a single polythene bag and flog them for a quid”, while neglecting the most important element of what they stand for – differentiated, valued content! Similarly, compare the brand strength of some of these titles to what they were even five years ago; brand identity has been eroded by multi-packing and constant redesigns – and readers pick up on this.

The sectors that post big declines make the headlines, but look deeper and we see some positive stories: the mature women’s lifestyle sector (GH, Prima) showing growth; the Home Interest sector (Good Homes, Country Homes) showing growth; and the luxury sector (Tatler, Harpers) holding its own. These successes yet again prove there is an appetite for the written word when quality publishing is at the forefront – but the same three factors still have to be right: brand, price and content. The market is very quick to talk about the demise of print, and the industry is equally as sharp to isolate TV, digital, VoD, tablets, mobile and the other means of communicating to our target audience. However, in a world that has experienced a rapid rate of media proliferation in all channels, there are still 2000+ magazines consumed per minute in the UK. When publications are much more than just their print edition – with touch points in tablet, mobile, online, events – the strength of the brand proposition trumps the pure circulation number. Shouldn’t this be what’s most important to clients?

The relative success of free magazines in recent years adds a fourth factor for success: convenience. Although they are far from reaching critical mass, the emergence iPad editions makes ‘convenience’ easier to deliver than ever; the publishers that get all four factors right will always find an audience; those that don’t will continue to be a bad headline.