• by Sara Guaglione , September 10, 2018

Time Out, which provides local city information, curating everything from events to new restaurants, celebrates its 50th anniversary this month with a festival and book.

The magazine is throwing a big festival on Sept. 29 at King’s Cross called “Time Out 50.” It aims to showcase “the best things in London,” Time Out Group CEO Julio Bruno, with food, drink and performances.

Time Out has partnered with Sipsmith, Bacardi, Red Bull, Spiritland and Kerb for the event.

A book is also coming out for the half-century occasion. In partnership with Unicorn, Time Out is publishing “Time Out 50: 50 Years, 50 Covers.”

The book will feature 50 covers curated by its editors, reflecting key moments of city life from 1968 up to today. It’s available starting Sept. 21 online at TimeOut.com and from bookshops and online retailers. The book will be available for delivery to the U.S. via Amazon.

Much digital content will center around the anniversary too, with editorial like "50 Places to Go” and “50 Best Things in the World.”

Bruno talked to Publishers Daily about how the free brand has survived and grown.

The brand started as a magazine in the 1960s in London. It now reaches more than 217 million across platforms, with a strong ecommerce business and food hall-type markets across the world.

Time Out currently has a presence in 108 cities in 39 countries.

Three things help sustain the brand, per Bruno. He cites diversifying the company, having highly curated content around the world and utilizing multiple platforms to showcase all that content,

The business is mostly built on advertising, ecommerce and hosting its own events. Print makes up about 35% of its Time Out Group revenue. 

Ecommerce revenue was up 57% in 2017 year-on-year, according to the company. It made up 19% of Time Out Digital's business last year. The company also facilitates booking tickets to theater shows or exhibits.

Time Out’s biggest audiences are in London and New York. Dubai, Tokyo, Hong Kong, Singapore, Madrid and Barcelona also have notably dedicated audiences, Bruno said.

He notes people love the “intimate experience” of print, as do advertisers. “To take your brand and give it to someone, in their hand — that physicality is very important,” he said.

Though Bruno expects people to increasingly pay for online subscriptions service, like Netflix, the company will “have to find the model that makes it profitable.”

Bruno touted the success of Time Out’s markets, which will open up in five new cities — Miami, New York City, Boston, Chicago and Montreal — by the end of 2019.

Going forward, he plans to grow the company’s digital video advertising and its social channels, as well as add more cities to its portfolio. (Time Out launched editions in Philadelphia and Austin last year.)