This is probably partly due to the fact that magazines are by their very nature more niched than newspapers - for instance, they target women or parents, guys who love gadgets, teenage girls who love to surf or people who go caravanning and camping. Magazines talk more directly to readers' specific interest than a regional daily newspaper, for instance. This makes it more competitive - and competition is always good for upping the game in terms of content.
Magazines also came later to online than newspapers. Crucially, this means they have learned from the newspapers' mistakes and have not culled their physical circulations by giving away content for free online. Today most SA magazines have websites that have lively blogs, interesting discussion threads and are generating content online and reverse publishing through features such as reader polls.
Many have also taken to social networks like proverbial ducks to water - Media24's Huisgenoot, for instance, has a popular Facebook page with 179 000 members and glossies that serve younger markets such as Associated Magazines' Cosmopolitan are very active on Twitter (the mag's Twitter stream has 20 500 followers) so they are successfully extending their brands 360 degrees.
But I'd also say that our magazine industry has not been as fixated as our newspapers on slugging it out for the elite top-LSM end of the market. While our local newspaper industry has only recently seen the opportunities in the mass market - with Media24's charge into the tabloid world - magazines such as YOU, Huisgenoot and DRUM have been doing this for decades. And, it seems, there are still gaps in this market as we can see with the excellent sales growth of the distinctly non-glossy Kuier... but more of that later.
Let's first look more generally at the ABC figures for the fourth quarter (Q4) of last year.
Total magazine circulation increased from the previous quarter, mostly because of a large new custom title (Vodacom Now!) while consumer magazines showed growth, mainly because of new entrants.
In the consumer-magazine category, total magazine circulation increased by 1.4% while real circulation declined by 3.7% (or 233 000 copies). Both single-copy sales and subscriptions declined. Free circulation increased by 37.4%, mainly because of new free circulating titles. Compare this to the newspaper figures for Q4 2011, in which 97 000 fewer daily papers were sold compared with the same quarter in the previous year - a drop of 6.7% - while single-copy sales declined by 7% and subscriptions by 8.3%.
The notable magazine titles and movers include (and it is important to note that the ABC separates out copy sales of below 50% cover price so 'single-copy sales' refers to those editions sold at 50% of cover price and above. 'Total circulation' incorporates subscriptions, bulking, free copies and those sold for under 50% of cover price):
Gordon Patterson, group managing director of Starcom MediaVest Group (and deputy president of the ABC) told Bizcommunity that it was worth noting that there is growth in some titles - even in the very competitive categories - but that, overall, the message in these ABC numbers is that consumers are far less loyal to titles than they used to be.
"Looking at consumer magazines over the past four-year period, one might be excused for thinking that the platform is healthy - particularly looking at the total magazine circulation. Based on the printed reports we see a 32.8% growth in total consumer-magazine circulation," says Patterson, who put the most recent ABC presentation together. "Impressive but deceptive, given a 43% increase in the number of titles reporting.
"Not surprisingly, looking at the average circulation, total or single-copy sales, we see a very different picture emerging. The fact that single-copy sales are decreasing faster (2.7 times) than total circulation suggests that average issue purchasers are less willing to be loyal," Patterson says. "In fact, comparing single-copy sales versus total circulation across the four-year period we note that in 2007 Q4 some 77% of total circulation was single-copy sales versus only 66% in Q4 2011.
"So in terms of magazines the fact that there is healthy category growth shows promise for the future. That said, consumers seem to be more discerning and certainly less loyal. Content remains king."
Patterson says: "The custom-magazine category is an interesting one in that few purchasers see these titles as being different to what we consider to be consumer magazines.
"The principle difference is in the method of distribution...which, in all honestly, makes very little difference from the public's perspective. Some of these titles have larger support bases than their 'consumer' counterparts or competitors...which is food for thought.
"Year-on-year Q4 highlights include Vision (a Christian magazine owned by River Ministries of the Eastern Cape), up 40% and (Wine-of-the-Month Club's) Good Taste, up 31%. And on the retail front, the Foschini Soccer Club grew by a remarkable 182% and Clicks Card is up 40%," Patterson says.
"The titles that are growing have much to be proud of and should celebrate their success. Further, these titles should engage with marketers to ensure that they are receiving their share of the marketing investment. This reward should encourage others to follow and secure, ultimately, the well-being of print. For those in decline, more of the same is simply not an option."
And that is the same lesson for newspapers: there's no room for slackers if you want to survive the decade.
ABC: Presentation of fourth-quarter 2011 ABC figures
Bizcommunity: Newspapers dire but not dead, say latest ABC circ numbers, February 2012
Bizcommunity: Latest ABCs: readers looking for quality, relevance (ABC third-quarter 2011 figures), November 2011
