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Originally Posted by KYHeirloomer  RP, I don't think anyone even peripherally related to the industry is suggesting that print-only is the way to go. Nor has anyone here suggested it. So I don't understand why you keep beating that horse.
It's a far cry from a mix of print & electronic to print alone. And the fact remains there will always be a need and desire for print magazines (that's one of the reasons that small houses and independents can do a better job with vertical pubs, btw).
However, to imply that Gourmet falls in the print-only box is just silly. Epicurious.com, from the day they bought Gale's List, has been the electronic side of the Gourmet/ Bon Appetite coin.
Anybody who both reads the magazines and is a member of Epicurious is fully aware that the website emphatically does not replace the magazines. It's a different kind of content, much of which does not appeal to Gourmet's orginal demographic.
There is no question that electronic media has contributed to the decline of both magazines. But to put the blame there overstates it at best.
The be-all and end-all of publishing is advertising. Nothing else matters. Even subscription fees, as a revenue stream, aren't in the running. The way you maintain advertising is to deliver buyers to the advertisers. And that's where Gourmet' has been failing. They gave away their upscale buyers, so the quality advertisers fled as well. The question is, where did they flee to?
Do you really think that 46% of revenues---or even a significant portion of that---in one quarter transferred to electronic media? If so, please show me the culinary website that carries ads for Jaguar touring cars and Swarovski crystalware. |
I agree, sorry to beat the dead horse, I guess I've just been hearing the argument re: gourmet closing centering around it's content, which I think is the farthest thing from being the reason of it's demise. I get the impression though, that some people, still think you can be successful just in print and that it's the content that's king.
Epicurious, Hmm. I consider myself more interested in food than most and didn't know they were related. Guess they didn't strike that good balance with complimenting each other enough to keep the magazine afloat, which, isn't easy. You mentioned the website doesn't appeal to the magazine demographic. That to me is a problem. the demographic for print, is generally older, and digital, younger, hard to find a way to pull either in the other direction.
I write a little biased too, as my career is in publishing for a pretty significant company and unforunately have to deal with these "strategy" issues daily, looking at numbers, the shell game, the projects, and initiatives...15 years down the road,etc. Sorry for beating the dead horse.
Be all and end all of course is advertising, but if the circ isn't there...due to the content.....waterfall waterfall. Jaguar doesn't care how it's ad reaches its people, as long as it reaches more people, and even better, if you can get some demographic ad data in return (via online advertizing). Evident by Akamai, DoubleClick, surviving the bubble, the recession, etc.
How do you think they gave away thier upscale buyers? or are you saying because they are closing?
in regards to where the 46% went? It would be silly to point to a single site, unless...of course I had a big finger simply pointed at "the google" or " the internets"
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