Trending
Statistica projects declines in print magazine circulation of 10.9% by 2024.
Newsletters have become a top revenue producer for niche media, especially for newsletter sales guru James Cridland, publisher of PodcastNews.net who told Niche Publisher how he does it.
Axios told the Digiday conference that newsletters along with events and premium subscriptions are part of its new strategy after lay-offs in August.
Europe agrees that non-core revenue streams are more profitable (MediaMakersMeet).
Social traffic to news sites continues to fall, but Google Discover, a mobile-only personalized news app has become a top referrer, up 13% across January 2023 (Neiman Journalism Lab).
Publishers are more interested in using Reddit, whose page views have increased by 88% since 2023, and using Reddit sub-threads that link back to content – although they are still suspicious about chasing one more social media partnership (Neiman Journalism Lab).
Other publishers have turned to mobile WhatsApp Channels, a one-way broadcasting tool that launched last year, to communicate links and news directly to followers, especially worldwide, as Telemundo has found (New York Times).
The idea, however, is not so different from simply adding a text channel, such as these built on Subtext which have the advantage over email of a 90% open rate.
40% of companies plan to increase business travel – including, but not only for conferences -in 2025 (Business Travel Magazine).
Sports titles are checking out the new improved GoPro release that comes with four extra lenses purchased separately (Cross Country Magazine).
NichePublisher added more prompts to its AI Prompts for Media library:. New reports include how to use AI to Write a sales proposal (for sellers who hate writing them), What words to ask AI to exclude to avoid sounding generated, and how Create a Newletter in two minutes.
Steve Brill, founder of NewsGuard, says his analysts are tracking the spread of AI content farms, and the starting number is 1000+ and counting, (Newguard Substack).
E&P and NewsMedia Alliance reported that 9 out of 10 Americans read print magazines and buy from magazine ads.
Blockchain farm simulator game Pixels, the largest Web3 game, with over a million daily users how socialize and farm virtual land, introduced its first in-game advertising this summer (Digiday).
Acquired
Hour Media, the largest publisher of city magazines has acquired Rowland Media, owner of Tallassee Magazine and Emerald Cost, making this its 26th acquisition and adding to the network’s total of 150 magazines and titles, and more than 70 shows and events (DBBusinessJournal).
ReStarting
Surfer Magazine is back. Four years after it shut down during the pandemic, the “bible of the surfing industry” returns with a new influx of capital and ideas. The new publisher is The Arena Group, a New York-based media company that also owns Parade, Men’s Journal and The Street, among others (MSN.com)
Vice will relaunch a quarterly print magazine with a goal of 10,000 paid subscribers.
I-D Magazine, a magazine, will resume publishing bi-annually in print (BofF).
Offered
A former employee of the Charlottesville Observer has offered $5 million for the company in an open letter to management.
Special editions
The Corcoran Group, a NYC luxury real estate brokerage, just launched the 2024 Edition of Properties for LIving, a glossy annual magazine featuring high end properties for sale worldwide.
Charlotte Magazine just issued it’s annual Teens Issue. It is also taking on politics this month with a letter from a lead columnist, “How we might survive the political season
The LongView Newsjournal and the Tyler Telegraph restarted The Zone, their annual magazine for the football season with 150 glossy pages filled with 200 athletes across 22 local teams with key stats and players, team breakdowns, and schedules, (FBherald).
Athlon Sports is publishing its annual NBA Preview Magazine (Yahoo Finance).
Bethesda Magazine is publishing its 2nd annual “Women who inspire” edition, along with an annual luncheon.
Milestones
Contractor Magazine turned 70 .
Mofffly Media, publisher of Stamford Magazine celebrated its 15th year.
Roanoker Magazine turned 50.
For sale
20-year old Lifestyle Magazine, 20-year, is for sale. Owners 4CG Construction and 4Creeks’ core services say they want to prioritize services in the architecture, engineering and construction industries and will support new owners through the transition (Sun Gazette).
Pivoting
Chris Keating, who sold his flagship publication, Riverside Times and acquired St. Louis foodie magazine Sauce in December 2023, has laid off three of six of the magazine’s full-time employees. He plans to refocus on events, use freelance writers and says he is committed to publishing through 2025 (St.Louis Magazine).
Expanding
Doorfront Direct, the nation’s largest independent magazine and catalog delivery network, expanded into Long Beach, California,and Greensboro, North Carolina in August and September (E&P).
Shrinking
Time Magazine laid off another 22 employees across multiple departments. The Washington Post laid off 54 people in September.
R.I.P
HotPod, the oldest podcasting newsletter in the business, remains”on Hiatus” after the lead reporter departed. The winner here? Podnews.net.
Aurelia, has closed. The magazine was founded in 2018 to publish personal essays ant art by some and binary people. They plan to turn the Instagram account into a new project (Bookseller.com).
Star Trek Explorer, the magazine, issued it’s final publication after a 30 year run (Trekmovie.com)
Future Music has discontinued it’s print magazine (Synthanatomy).
Legal Corner
A proposed class action suit by professors claims academic journal publishers violate antitrust law by barring simultaneous submissions to multiple journals and denying pay for “peer review” services. One of the first is a University of California Los Angeles neuroscience professor who has sued six major academic journals, (Infodocketcom).
BuzzFeed just settled a major class action lawsuit over sharing visitor data with Facebook, at a cost of $9 million (Media Post).
DNA tester 23andME reached a $30 million settlement without admitting guilt in over a 2023 data breach (Infosecurity magazine).
People
Kelundra Smith has been named director of publishing for Theater Communications Group (Broadwayworld.com).
NYC-based magazine WallPaper threw a party at Dover Street Market to celebrate De Vicent, the guest editor of October’s issue.
Key Media & Research (KMR) has promoted Abby Bowman to editor of AGRR™ magazine and its glassBYTEs™ e-newsletter.
In the comic book world, the outstanding comic of 2024 is My Body Unspooling by Leo Fox (Silver Sprocket), and the outstanding online Comic is Buuza!! by Shazleen Khan. They are just two of the Ignatz Awards winners for most creative comics, at Small Press Expo (SPX) convention independent comics convention .
Winners took home a brick on a wooden stand, references the brick throwing mouse in the Krazy Kat comic. (Publisher’s Weekly
