• by John Gaffney , May 13, 2002

Print Riffs: Couple of things surprised me in last week’s Publisher’s Information Bureau report on magazine revenue for April. If you missed it, it showed revenue is down big time on a year-to-date basis over 2001. And 2001 stunk. I thought we were revving up for recovery. Not yet, folks. The pain in print pages continues. First big surprise was the automotive category. It was down four percent year to date, while car sales seemed to be doing well. I think two things happened. One: the auto manufacturers laid off print ads because they were nervous about Q1 sales. Two: auto manufacturers are appropriating a greater percentage of their print budgets to online efforts. If I’m right, these developments mean print magazines need some sales juice. Online ads are working for data capture. Auto companies live for data capture, because the more they can communicate one on one with a customer, the better they can control the information circuit. So if I’m a magazine salesperson in the auto category, I’m thinking I need to get the great things about print ads back in front of the client or agency. Data capture is great. But print can serve that as well. And there’s still no better showcase for a cool car on a beautiful road than a magazine. Especially one that has a solid readership among your target audience. No one media can be cocky about its place in the hearts and minds of media planners these days. I don’t care if you’re Sports Illustrated, CBS Sportsline or ESPN Cable. Ensuring that the media you work on retains its strength in the big picture is essential to success........

Upfront riffs: Seems to me the debate (at least the one being held in the press) on the upfront market is finally focusing where it should be: on content. At least one trend is emerging early as the big announcements come this week: Families are back. Whether they’re portrayed in a sitcom or a reality series, get ready for a big helping of single dads, happy families and dysfunction. The challenge will be whether or not those families will find a mass and loyal audience. And you know what? Watching the spate of retrospectives on three networks recently, it struck me that the best TV (and most commercially successful) has come with some risk. All In the Family. Cheers. The Honeymooners. TV is starved for some outrageous characters. I think that brings the audience. And the ads follow the audience........

Kid riffs: Innovation works. You don’t hear a lot about a lack of fresh ideas for kids programming. You don’t hear much about dwindling audiences either. That’s because kids TV programmers like Nickeolodeon, Disney and even some Fox and WB properties have opened up to new ideas, new animation tactics and even programs from the overseas market. Maybe the prime time planners could learn from that.