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“We also need to focus on diversified consumer revenues. By consumer revenues, I mean sampling businesses, ecommerce and affiliate plays. We’re very good at selling products but I don’t think we often get the credit for that transaction. So we need to get better at proving our leads to clients as well.
“We also need to do better at selling products as an FMCG company and work more closely partnering with our retailers, especially newsagents, and improve our direct-to-consumer offering via Magshop.”
Diversifying its offering among its titles has opened the doors for Are Media’s advertisers to reach new and different audiences. Events and experiences continue to be popular for both consumers and advertisers. Hill notes that pivoting to online events, such as Gourmet Traveller’s virtual winetasting masterclass with partner Church Road Wines, has worked extremely well, and that flagship events such as The Australian Women’s Weekly Veeda Women of the Future Awards are returning with in-person events this side of Christmas.
Product listing, sampling and review sites such as Beautyheaven, BEAUTYcrew and Bounty Parents have proven to be effective commercial models, which Hill says are driving people to purchase.
When it comes to its print products, he notes that the audience is vastly different from the same title’s digital audience, which means there are greater opportunities for advertisers.
“We have more consumers for them to engage with than we ever have before,” he says. “It’s all about continuing to invest in both print and digital strategies. We’re not going to give up on one for the other.”
Words from the wise...
In an ode to the Australian Magazine Awards and the future of the industry, AdNews called on industry luminaries to share how they see 2021 and beyond shaping up. Who better to ask than previous Hall of Fame winners?
Eric Beecher,
chairman of Private Media
Hall of Fame winner 2017
A decade ago, I bought and read maybe 20 printed magazines a week, covering politics, ideas, current affairs and business. Today I still read and pay for most of that content, but none of it in print.
I still miss the tactile, almost sensory experience of opening and navigating through a freshly minted magazine, but not enough to cling to a format that takes too long to arrive, piles up on the desk, and tests the limits of the environment. Same with printed newspapers.
Now, I’m a digital publisher with a business model that barely has to worry about the physical form, and can focus entirely on the content. That has created a whole new world where the word magazine is redundant and the word journalism has even greater potency and primacy. Substance over style.
That, to me, is the future of the magazine, even if it’s no longer called a magazine. And no amount of nostalgia, or window dressing, is going to change the new publishing paradigm.
Julia Zaetta,
editor-in-chief
of Better Homes & Gardens Hall of Fame winner 2013
2020 has been an extraordinary year for magazines. I think in a strange way the industry has benefited from COVID because it’s given people time to go back and seek out the entertainment that comes with the media and particularly magazines.
This year highlighted the fact that the industry will be selective about the magazines that they produce. Those that are being produced have been selected wisely and understand the audience that they have grown as a result of the virus.
People still love the opportunity to just be able to lean back and
go deeply into their favourite magazines and find entertainment in those pages. They can dwell for as long as they like and engage with the information, inspiration and ideas.
So, I think 2021 will show the industry being selective but I
think that it will be successful in a whole new way that we’ve never anticipated. I’m very cheery about what will happen and very optimistic.
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