fipp.com Q4 2008 | Magazine World | 13
cover story
Keep your eye on the reader
Jonas Bonnier CEO, Bonnier Group, Sweden
we don’t foresee decline. Events should be
fine, and our copy sales – in Scandinavia
and the US – are mostly on a subscription
basis, so they should be stable. And, if you
look at books and magazines, they tend to
do well in recessions. They provide some
comfort in hard times. In fact, we have
seen sales grow.
As far as strategy is concerned
– always keep your eye on the reader. You
R
egarding our US magazines, we saw have to stay relevant and maintain quality.
the market turn in October-November Advertising may make you nervous, but it
Consolidation
2007. Since then, major magazines with will all be fine in a couple of years.
opportunities
large circulations have felt the impact
more than the smaller, niche magazines
Eija Ailasmaa CEO,
like Marlin, our fishing title.
"Always keep
Sanoma, The Netherlands
Europe hasn’t felt the impact yet – we
talk about it constantly, and we’ve been
your eye on the
waiting since May, but it hasn’t happened
reader. You have to
S
o far we’ve experienced very
limited impact on business,
yet. However, we’re predicting a tough but we expect a dip starting
time in spring 2009.
stay relevant and
in January-February next year.
The biggest sector to be impacted is
maintain quality..."
Subscriptions are more stable
advertising. Digital won’t see growth, but and ads have been pre-booked,
so there has so far been no
immediate impact on business.
As far as copy sales are
No recovery until 2010 concerned we are not extremely
worried – people can afford small
Aroon Purie Chairman and editor-in-chief, The India Today Group indulgences like magazines and
during bad times a magazine is
and other direct costs. a nice substitution for bigger
In my view, we won’t see any recovery spending. The situation may,
until 2010. Everyone is bracing themselves however, influence our reader
for a bad 2009. The hardest hit sector offers.
of our business has been advertising Advertising is another matter.
sales, which is the primary and dominant Events could be affected if
revenue stream, followed by partners are impacted by the
circulation/copy sales. recession – this could be more
We are addressing all non-conventional relevant in the B2B sector.
forms of attracting incremental ad As far as strategy is concerned,
sales revenue by way of supplements, it is important now to plan and
advertiser-led features and events, prepare well. We will be very cost-
and making structural changes to our conscious and even more aware
G
rowth has been sluggish both in rate card. A major cost-reduction and of the bottom line. Also, chasing
terms of circulation and advertising rationalisation exercise is also ongoing. receivables will get high attention
volume and value. While we grew the total All magazine plans are being redrawn and there will also be more
top line by over 20 per cent last year, using a zero-base budgeting system, attention on key titles
we do not believe that we will be able to and all future expansion plans and and less experimentation.
achieve even half of this growth in 2008. investments have been put on hold. We will also be aware of
Large and medium national advertisers We don’t see any opportunities for the opportunities market
have become extremely wary, and are not takeovers or consolidation in the Indian consolidation may offer due
committing to placing advertising on a market. If they do happen, they will to the economic situation.
regular basis. This has seriously impacted be few and far between. Some of the It will be interesting to see
our profits on existing business and weaker titles may fold, but no-one how the trends between mass
delayed all future expansion plans, given will want to buy a magazine with no media advertising versus online
➜
the rapidly rising costs of paper, salaries future. will evolve.
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