A look at the world of magazine media - Issue #11
We're zipping along through 2021, finishing the final turn before we hit the straight-away that will take us to the end of this year and plant us firmly in the third decade of the 21st century.
This week connections and threads are starting to show themselves. The work publishers and the retailers who sell their wares did during the early days of the pandemic may be paying off. I'm seeing sales rise, in some cases to or past 2019 levels. Efficiencies are up. Subs may be leveling off, but they're holding steady, for the most part.
Can we maintain this?
#1. Morning Consult Poll shows consumers trust bricks & mortar grocery stores, but still shop online
Grocers gain trust from consumers as online shopping grows in popularity | Grocery Dive — www.grocerydive.com Grocery news
Two important magazine retailers, Kroger and Whole Foods, ranked high amongst the most trusted retailers of 4400 consumers surveyed by the research firm Morning Consult.
While the percentage of the public who shops for groceries online has grown significantly since the start of the pandemic, a bricks and mortar presence appears to increase the trust level of that retailer.
This seems to be further evidence that it is vital to the future of magazine retailing that magazines appear in online shopping carts.
You can find the polls key takeaways here (registration required):
Key Takeaways - Retail & E-commerce 2021 — mtb.morningconsult.com To better understand how retailers can grow consumer trust, particularly in regards to online shopping, Morning Consult surveyed 4,400 U.S. adults to gauge their overall trust in this industry and to learn how trust is built — and how it’s broken. Morning Consult also tapped into its flagship platform, Morning Consult Brand Intelligence, to see which retailers consumers trust the most.
#2 Graphic novel "Persepolis" removed from required reading list at Long Island school
Persepolis Removed from Required Reading List for “Graphic Nature” – Comic Book Legal Defense Fund — cbldf.org It has appeared on numerous “Best of” lists, including The Guardian 100 Best Books of the 21st Century, it has won multiple awards and weathered numerous challenges. Despite all that, Persepolis is still causing controversy twenty years after its publication date.
School board members in New York wanted to embrace diversity, but hecklers had other plans — www.cnn.com Board members in a New York school district attempted to discuss a diverse curriculum and critical thinking -- but it erupted into a debate about critical race theory.
It's not just books that get banned or removed from shelves. Magazines in retail markets are also, often "banned" by either not being added to an "authorized list" or, for example, in the case of some cannabis titles, being told that they're not welcome on the shelves.
Book banning, of course, has been around for a long time. But I found these articles about the graphic novel 'Persepolis' somewhat chilling because of the close relationship between magazines, comics and graphic novels.
As someone who works in media, in particular, print media, it seems important to be continually aware of these things.
#3 GrillGirl.com founder launches quarterly magazine
GrillGirl.com Announces Launch of Grill Girl Magazine - a Grilling Lifestyle Publication | Business Wire — www.businesswire.com Robyn Lindars announces
The founder of the GrillGirl.com website, Robyn Lindars has launched a quarterly magazine based on her website. Grill Girl Magazine will be a quarterly publication newsstand priced at $7.99 per issue. From a look at the website, it also appears that they'll be offering subscriptions. The magazine is available at major magazine retailers as well as for sale direct from the website.
#4 Is Subscription Fatigue a Thing? Jack Hough of Barron's seems to thing so...
Subscription Fatigue May Be the Next Front in the Streaming Wars | Barron's — www.barrons.com Investors looking to buy media stocks would be wise to wait until the fall, when there’s more clarity on post-Covid subscriber trends.
Many magazine publishers saw a pretty big uptick in subscribers at the start of the pandemic. On a personal level, while we dropped our daily print newspaper subscription to digital weekday and print only on Sunday, we picked up several streaming services.
Like many others, we also canceled our gym membership in favor of a virtual workout program.
And, like many people, we're now looking at our bank statements and credit card bills and wondering..."What the heck?" Like the author, Mr. Hough, it does sometimes feel a little like a "monthly burglary."
So, how's your renewals looking this quarter?
#5 Remember these? The Video Game History Foundation offers subscriptions to old video gaming magazines
Video Game History Foundation Will Mail You Vintage Gaming Mags — kotaku.com A little pricier than I remember, but this is weapons-grade nostalgia
As a former Ziff-Davis contractor (from back in the day when Ziff actually had magazines), I remember, very well, the circulation wars between the various gaming publishers. Who had the best discs? Who had the best poly programs?
We did, of course.
And now, your moment of magazine zen, and magazine agita...
