• by Erik Sass , July 25, 2008

As Others Plunge, Newspaper-Distributed Magazines Soar

It's one of the weird paradoxes in current media trends: While newspapers and consumer magazines are both taking it on the chin in 2008, some magazines distributed via newspapers are doing quite well. Among the leaders are American Profile and Relish, from the Publishing Group of America--which have seen year-to-date ad pages increase 12.58% and 19.69%, respectively, according to MIN Online. Competitors USA Weekend and Parade are holding steady with relatively small declines.

Explaining the medium's general vitality, PGA President Dick Porter said the newspaper-distributed magazines are benefiting from a confluence of several trends. On the newspaper side, the general trend toward cost-cutting by reducing newsroom staffs means that editors and publishers are looking for ways to bolster their print offerings at minimal expense. At the same time, newspapers in small and mid-sized towns have not suffered the dramatic fall-off in print circulation that has afflicted some metro dailies. So even though they may be tightening their belts, they still have considerable local influence.

On the consumer magazine side, Porter said that newspaper-distributed magazines benefit from the immediacy of newspaper content; they accumulate the vast majority of their audience within a very short period, typically less than a week. Porter contrasted that with other monthly consumer magazines, which can take up to three months to accumulate the bulk of their audience.

For PGA, this would seem to recommend a strategy of monthly magazines appearing on the weekends--covering the audience in shifts, according to Porter, who pointed to the launch this September of health and fitness magazine Spry as a model. Porter said the company is developing several new titles on different themes, but demurred when asked for details.

Metropolitan Home, Showtime Networks Hook Up

Metropolitan Home is launching a partnership with Showtime Networks to create Metropolitan Home's Showtime House, a $20 million, 8,800-square-foot multimedia show house in New York's Gramercy Park Neighborhood. Seven well-known designers will give the Greek revival townhouse a multimedia makeover, including Vicente Wolf, Jamie Drake, White Webb, Laura Kirar, Amy Lau, Tori Golub and Johnny Grey.

Each of their design schemes will draw on a different Showtime show for inspiration, among them "Dexter," "Californication," "The Tudors," "Weeds," "The L-Word" and the "United States of Tara." The show house will be open to public tours from Sept. 13 to Oct. 26, with proceeds benefiting the Happy Hearts Fund. Sponsors include Time Warner Cable, Benjamin Moore, Thermador, CaesarStone, Hunter Douglas, Just Terraces, The Container Store, Artistic Tile, Toto, Dedar, Warp & Weft, Ann Sacks, among others.

Hachette Creates Luxury Design Group

Also this week, Metropolitan Home's publisher, Hachette Filipacchi, announced the creation of a new Luxury Design Group, combining the sales reach and editorial resources of Elle Décor and Metropolitan Home. As part of the shakeup, Metropolitan Home's publisher, Deborah Burns, received the additional title of senior vice president of the Luxury Design Group. Barbara Friedmann was promoted to publisher of Elle Décor, and received the additional title of managing director at the Luxury Design Group.

MPA Relaunches Web Site

The Magazine Publishers of America has relaunched its Web site, www.magazine.org, according to President and CEO Nina Link. Among the new features are streamlined navigation, allowing faster access to specific categories of information, optimized search, and social Web functions such as the "ShareThis" utility for bookmarking via sites like Reddit, Facebook and del.icio.us. The site also features a new iDirectory of MPA's entire membership, industry news and listing of MPA events and seminars.