• by Frank Saxe , January 16, 2003

In an increasingly crowded newsstand environment, the power of the brand is becoming important for magazine titles. To help build brand awareness among magazine buyers, publishers are increasingly looking to television to create related-content programs. But there is windfall, too. In some cases they are building circulation, and in others it is helping bring advertisers into the fold.

Hachette Filipacchi Media’s Car & Driver is a lap ahead of most titles, as its three-year old weekly cable television show on TNN not only extends its brand image, but it also turns a profit and sells tens of thousands of subscriptions each year. “The main benefit that the magazine gets from the TV show is circulation,” says senior VP of brand development David Fishman. “Baked into every episode of Car & Driver Television is a sixty second spot. That is a very profitable circulation source for us.” Reaching 1.3 million viewers during its two runs each weekend on TNN, Car & Driver Television is the highest-rated automotive show on TV, and is part of the magazine’s recent push to brand itself across all media.

From the women’s service category, Hachette Filipacchi’s Woman’s Day is taking steps to extend its brand to TV, with a series of women’s health programs on Discovery Health Channel. The first airs February 13, and will tie-in women’s heart health to Valentine’s Day. Meanwhile, Conde Naste fashion bible Vogue will produce five seasonal fashion one-hour TV show beginning this month on a number of ABC affiliates nationwide. Tied into its “Trend Watch” special section, the magazine will sell its 14 minutes of TV inventory in conjunction with the print product. In its debut, Perrier and Dior’s J’adore appeared in both the magazine and on the TV show. Vogue publisher Joe Florio is on record as saying they could get 100 ad pages out of the TV deal. Future episodes of Trend Watch will air in March, June, September and November.

Seeing the success of others on television, Dennis Publishing’s Maxim is taking its first step onto the airwaves, with a The Maxim NFL Beach Bash on ESPN on Sunday, February 2. The brief says the Bash will highlight the most memorable moments of the 2002 NFL season, which readers select via the title’s website. Sony Computers and Coors Light will sponsor the show, and while Dennis won’t talk about it, under its deal with ESPN, Maxim will reportedly require TV sponsors to also buy pages in the magazine. The one-time baby step into television is hardly surprising considering Maxim’s brand extension quest led it to launch its own hair color. Dennis Publishing is also shopping its Blender and Stuff for similar deals.

Hearst Magazines’ Esquire is also getting into the TV game. Fox’s FX network has acquired the rights to Esquire magazine’s “What It Feels Like” annual editorial feature, which collects extraordinary first-person accounts of the heights and depths of the human condition. “It enhances the core brand when its something that is appropriate for another media vehicle. We believe this will be,” says associate publisher/marketing Stephen Jacoby. Esquire is still working out the details of the show, which is still in development, and it is expected to employ a similar cross-selling strategy undertaken by others. Yet Jacoby says it is unlikely they would require TV advertisers to buy print ads. “We’re focused on selling our magazines, so we would never force the issue,” he adds.

Meredith Magazine Group president Jerry Kaplan says cross-platform ads have so far been more buzz than bottom line. “The challenge you have is typically the ratings on these shows are relatively small and so there are some cross-platform opportunities, but because the ratings are small it’s not that exciting.” Bucking the print-to-TV trend is Meredith’s Better Homes & Gardens, which killed off its weekly syndicated television show two years ago. “I don’t think we had a clear business plan,” says Kaplan. That is not to say they are not interested in being on the tube. “Meredith is very interested in TV and we would like to get back on TV. If the opportunity arose where that made sense for us from a business point a view, with a clear business objective and it made sense from a financial point of view, we would love to be back on TV.” Kaplan says he is meeting with a number of production houses to create new branded TV shows. In the meantime, Meredith’s Better Homes & Gardens and Ladies’ Home Journal are offering specials on HGTV and the Discovery Channel.

Hachette Filipacchi is also looking at expanding its outpost on TV. It has inked a development deal with Loren Michael’s Broadway Video to create a show branded with Hachette’s Road & Track, focusing on Formula One racing. It has also entered into development for a TV show based on the content carried in Cycle World. Fishman says a lot of energy is also being spent on creating a television presence for Premiere magazine. “We have a huge amount of air time for editors, but we feel that we can find a series home for premiere on cable television,” says Fishman, who says the explosion of digital cable will serve magazines well. “The world is now catching up and the business models are arriving. That stuff that was talked about during the Internet bubble has become a traditional business.”