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US Postal NewsUS Postal Service files appeal of 'exigent' rate increase decision.........................................................1Marketers hope new legislators tackle USPS.......................................................................................2Book/Directory Industry NewsSuperMedia discontinues 12 directories with 2 million circulation .........................................................3Catalog/Retail Industry NewsWalmart makes offer to acquire 51% stake in Massmart ......................................................................4Consumer confidence at highest level since June................................................................................4Target reports blowout November........................................................................................................5Direct Marketing Industry NewsStudy: Branded content remains strong as marketers shift money into custom media ..........................5Marketers overlook backend of campaigns ..........................................................................................7Magazine Industry NewsMagazine readership remains strong according to Affinity's American Magazine study ........................8Year-End Roundup: Mag ads up, but well off '07 peak .........................................................................8In magazine world, a new crop of chiefs ..............................................................................................9Next Issue newsstand to launch with limited offerings........................................................................12Magazines take a shot at the net .......................................................................................................13Hearst eyes French deal for Elle, Woman's Day ................................................................................14Harman visits ‘Beast’ staff; Tina swings by Newsweek.......................................................................15

ECONOMIC UPDATEGDP: 2.5% in Q3 2010 2nd revision (up from 1.7% Q2 2010)

Unemployment Rate: 9.8% in November 2010 (up from 9.5% in October)

Consumer Confidence: 54.1 in November 2010 (up from 50.2 in October)

US POSTAL NEWS

US Postal Service files appeal of 'exigent' rate increase decision (DM News – November 24, 2010)Original Link: http://www.dmnews.com/us-postal-service-files-appeal-of-exigent-rate-increase-decision/article/191563/

The US Postal Service filed a brief with a federal court on November 23, appealing the Postal Regulatory Commission's September decision to block the USPS from enacting an “exigent” rate increase in 2011.

The PRC unanimously rejected the Postal Service's petition to enact rate increases larger than the rate of inflation two months ago. Marketers largely praised the PRC's decision to deny the rate increase.

The USPS contends that the PRC misread the statute on exigent rate increases and that the oversight body “acted in an arbitrary and capricious manner by establishing new requirements that were not shared with or explained to the Postal Service.”

December 6, 2010

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“As a result of recession-related volume losses and other factors, the Postal Service has suffered multi-billion-dollar losses and will not be able to pay its final fiscal year 2011 obligations on September 30, 2011 –a date that is now barely 10 months away,” the USPS said in the brief. “Moreover, these volume losses will have a negative impact on revenue for years to come.”

The PRC has until January 14, 2011, to reply to the brief. The USPS must then respond to that document by January 28, according to Gerald McKiernan, spokesperson for the USPS.

The set of rate increases was one part of the Postal Service's 10-year plan to restore financial stability at the organization. The USPS lost $8.5 billion in its 2010 fiscal year, which ended September 30.

Ann Fisher, director of public affairs and government relations at the PRC, said the oversight body is declining comment on the appeal process.

Marketers hope new legislators tackle USPS (DM News – December 1, 2010)Original Link: http://www.dmnews.com/marketers-hope-new-legislators-tackle-usps/article/191179/

American voters sent a clear message about government spending last month when they voted in a new House of Representatives class dominated by Republicans. Direct marketing industry experts are hoping this new Congress will take measures to help the US Postal Service get its financial house in order as well.

“There was a pretty clear mandate: take action, and if you don't act, we'll vote you out in two years,” says Gary Skidmore, president of direct marketing at Harte-Hanks, a San Antonio, TX-based direct agency. “I think it's inevitable that the discussion will eventually come to stopping a delivery day and closing postal facilities. Those are controversial issues, and congressmen are going to say that they want to reduce costs but they don't want their local post office to close.”

USPS officials are hoping legislators prioritize postal issues during the next session. The USPS lost $8.5 billion in its 2010 fiscal year, including a $5.5 billion payment to its Retiree Health Benefits Fund and a $2 billion non-cash adjustment to workers' compensation payments to reflect lower interest rates. The USPS has asked Congress to adjust the amount of compensation it must pay.

Although many direct marketers opposed the Postal Service's efforts to raise 2011 rates by a percentage beyond the inflation rate, most are supporting the USPS' push to restructure its employees' and retirees' benefits payment schedule. That approach has been in use since 1971. Right now, USPS must pay for benefits of employees who joined the original Post Office Department, which was reorganized into the modern US Postal Service nearly four decades ago, as well as current employees.

Postal reform advocates, and the USPS' Office of Inspector General, contend that this system has required the Postal Service to overpay by as much as $75 billion since 1972. Refunding that money to the USPS would solve nearly all of its financial problems, they say.

A range of industry groups, from the Direct Marketing Association to the Affordable Mail Alliance are supporting reforming the payment system. Sen. Thomas Carper (D-DE) also included a payment restructurng measure in the postal reform bill he authored this year.

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“This is clearly top of the agenda. The US Postal Service is going to run out of money by September 30, 2011, so something has to give,” said Hamilton Davison, executive director of the American Catalog Mailers Association. “My hope is that, at a minimum, Congress takes a look at the issues of USPS legacy costs.”

“There is going to be a thoughtful discussion about the overpayment to the postal pensions and the amount of payments that have to go to fund retiree health benefits,” said Jerry Cerasale, SVP of government affairs at the Direct Marketing Association. “This is one area that everyone is behind.”

However, industry experts say there is only a slim chance Congress will take up the issue in the “lame duck” session where Democrats maintain control until the next Congress begins.

BOOK/DIRECTORY INDUSTRY NEWS

SuperMedia discontinues 12 directories with 2 million circulation(Yellow Pages & Directory Report – December 1, 2010) Original Link: http://www.yellowpagesanddirectoryreport.com/content/supermedia-discontinues-12-directories-2-million-circulation

SuperMedia (Dallas) (formerly Idearc Media) has discontinued 12 directories with 2 million circulation, YP&DR has learned. The directories, including three Spanish-language directories with 623,000 circulation and seven companion books with 1.3 million circulation, are discontinued after their 2010 publication. Regional directories are the remainder of the books cancelled.

The most recent shutdowns follow a series of withdrawals from markets—21 directories with 4.8 million circulation announced earlier this year, 17 directories with 2.6 million circulation in 2009 and 28 competitive directories with 8.1 million circulation in 2008.

The largest of the books to be discontinued in the most recent shutdown is the Providence (RI) companion directory with 348,000 circulation and a DHC rate of $806. It is the companion book to the 302,000-circulation Providence directory with a DHC rate of $13,898. The Providence book competes with Yellowbook’s Providence directory with a circulation of 450,000 and a DHC rate of $7,488.

SuperMedia publishes 1,142 directories in the U.S. with a distribution of 116.2 million in 32 states and the District of Columbia. It has 5,500 employees, down from 7,000 in 2008. SuperMedia reported revenue of $2.51 billion in 2009, a 15.5% decline from 2.97 billion in 2008.

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CATALOG/RETAIL INDUSTRY NEWS

Walmart makes offer to acquire 51% stake in Massmart(Retailing Today – November 24, 2010)Original Link: http://www.retailingtoday.com/story.aspx?section=General&id=158451

Wal-Mart Stores announced that it has offered to acquire 51% of the shares of Massmart Holdings Limited for ZAR148 or ($20.69USD) per Massmart ordinary share. Massmart will continue to trade on the JSE Limited to provide Massmart shareholders with the ability to participate in the growth opportunity of the combined entity.

Doug McMillon, president and CEO of Walmart International, said, "We continue to be excited by the opportunity to invest in Massmart's business and to accelerate its growth and expansion in South Africa. The more we learn about South Africa and the surrounding countries the more we are convinced that this is an important region with attractive growth characteristics. This combination fits perfectly with our strategy to enter high growth markets in which we can apply our global expertise and generate strong returns. Also, this acquisition will allow us to bring to South Africa our significant experience in connecting small farmers with Walmart's global supply chain, boosting farmer income as well as helping them improve the quality of their produce. We hope to help South African suppliers grow their businesses, become more efficient, environmentally friendly and ultimately more competitive."

The offer remains subject to acceptance by Massmart's shareholders, as well as certain customary conditions and relevant regulatory approvals in South Africa. The offer documents are expected to be mailed to Massmart's shareholders by Dec. 9.

Consumer confidence at highest level since June(Retailing Today - November 29, 2010)Original Link: http://www.retailingtoday.com/story.aspx?section=General&id=158599

Optimism about the U.S. economy grew in November, pushing the latest reading on consumer sentiment to the highest level since June. The Consumer Confidence Index rose to 54.1 in November, up from a negatively revised 49.9 in October, the Conference Board, a New York-based research group that compiles the index, said Tuesday. Economists were expecting the index to increase to 52.

"Consumer confidence is now at its highest level in five months, a welcome sign as we enter the holiday season," said Lynn Franco, director of The Conference Board Consumer Research Center. "Hopefully, the improvement in consumers' mood will continue in the months ahead."

The percentage of Americans expecting business conditions to pick up over the next several months increased to 16.7% from 15.8% last month, and fewer expected circumstances to worsen. Consumers were also more positive about job prospects, with 15.5% expecting more jobs in the months ahead, up from 14.5%. And over 10% are anticipating a boost in their incomes, according to the report.

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Target reports blowout November(Retailing Today - December 2, 2010)Original Link: http://retailingtoday.com/story.aspx?section=General&id=158733

Same-store sales surged 5.5% at Target during November, exceeding the company’s guidance and analysts’ expectations for a low single-digit gain. The company said the number of people shopping its stores as measured by transactions increased nearly 4%, and average transaction sizes were also up slightly, with broad-based growth throughout the store. The company is looking for December comps to increase in the low to mid single-digit range.

“Guests are responding to our compelling holiday merchandising and marketing programs, and they love our new 5% REDcard Rewards program,” said Gregg Steinhafel, Target chairman, president and CEO. “We’re well-prepared for the biggest month of the year, and believe we’re on track to achieve fourth quarter sales and profitability consistent with our guidance on Nov. 17.”

An expanded assortment of food and consumables in an increasing number of stores as part of a remodeling program known as PFresh has been a boon to customer traffic, and those categories are now among the fastest growing at Target. The company said its November comparable-store sales performance was strongest in grocery, which experienced a mid-teen increase and healthcare and beauty increased in the mid-to-upper single digits. Comparable-store sales in apparel increased in the high single-digit range and were strong across all categories, with particular strength in shoes and men’s apparel. Comparable-store sales in hardlines increased in the low single-digit range, with the strongest performance in electronics and toys, and the softest performance in music, movies & books. The other area of weakness was home, which experienced a slight decline overall.

DIRECT MARKETING INDUSTRY NEWS

Study: Branded content remains strong as marketers shift money into custom media (Folio – November 30, 2010)Original Link: http://www.foliomag.com/2010/study-branded-content-remains-strong-marketers-shift-money-custom-media

Spending on branded content, or custom publishing, is at its second-highest level ever, at an average of $1.3 million per marketer, and nearly 100 percent over spending levels from 2008, according to a study from the Custom Content Council in conjunction with the newsletter ContentWise.

The study also indicates that many marketers are continuing to shift their money to branded content and at the same time, increase their spending. "This is good news for us all. Although we are coming out of the recession, our industry has held its own," said Keith Sedlak, chairman of the Custom Content Council and Chief Marketing Officer with Meredith Integrated Marketing.

Some other highlights from the report, whose findings were released this week:

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• 66 percent of marketers think branded content is superior to direct mail and 63 percent think it is superior to public relations.

• The primary reason to deploy branded content initiatives is to educate customers, according to 54 percent of the companies surveyed, followed by customer retention at 23 percent.

• The leading secondary reasons were customer retention (35 percent) and educating customers (27 percent), though brand loyalty factored in at 26 percent.

• 29 percent of the average overall marketing, advertising and communications budget funds were dedicated to branded content. This is the second greatest ever (first was 32 percent in 2009).

• Print represented 43 percent of the total spending, while electronic and other accounted for 35 percent and 12 percent, respectively.

• The average spending for print forms of branded content is $256,655 on personnel, $214,874 on production, and $125,343 on distribution.

• The average spending for electronic forms is $267,632 on personnel, $81,246 on production, $62,129 on distribution, and $66,908 on programming.

• The average spending for other forms is $169,255 on personnel, $81,709 on production and $40,855 on distribution.

• The use of services of external agencies (such as custom publishers, PR/marketing firms, design firms, video production companies or interactive agencies) to handle some aspect of branded content initiatives remains consistent at around 50 percent.

• Outsourcing was more prevalent among print forms (45 percent) of branded content, than it was among electronic (19 percent) or other (23 percent) forms. Of all the branded content initiatives, some portion of these initiatives was outsourced 31 percent of the time.

• The average spent among those companies that did outsource (thus excluding those who did not outsource) was $583,500, versus a previous high of $885,646 in 2009.

• A total of 68 percent of companies indicate that their organization are shifting from traditional forms of advertising and marketing to new forms (i.e. branded content, content marketing, custom publishing, or custom media.

• The majority of companies (61 percent) have experience a moderate shift in their spending while 7 percent report an aggressive shift.

The study was conducted via online and mailed surveys targeting a random sample of marketers across all industries. Among the responding companies were: Allstate Insurance, ASPCA, Hoosier Energy, Honda Financial Services, Lockheed Martin, MS Department of Transportation, Proskauer Rose LLP, SiriusXM Radio, State Farm Insurance, World Vision, YMCA and Zale Corporation. More than five thousand invitations were distributed and approximately 200 surveys were completed and returned. The results have an accuracy level of plus or minus 6 percent.

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Marketers overlook backend of campaigns(DM News - November 29, 2010)Original Link: http://www.dmnews.com/marketers-overlook-backend-of-campaigns/article/191666/

Executives often overlook the operational and “demand-chain” aspects of their marketing efforts, according to a report published Nov. 29 by the CMO Council.

The study, titled "Competitive Gain in the Demand Chain," found a majority — 80% — of respondents say that their organization is not efficient or effective enough with its demand chain, including areas such as retail distribution and fulfillment. The report also found that of the 250 marketing executives who responded, 20% believe that their demand chain is under-performing and in need of improvement.

“As marketers, we're really used to talking about the front end of the process—how we come up with the targeted creative or with the piece that gets the attention in the store—but we tend to silo and segment what happens in the rest of the process,” said Liz Miller, vice president of global programs and operations for CMO Council.

Miller pointed to the example of a direct mail piece. While marketers may work to incorporate cutting-edge 3D technology and a snappy slogan in the mailer, they are likely to assume other issues do not concern them.

“What if the mailers don't hit on the day you need them to? This amazing experience doesn't come through because something has broken down along this supply chain,” she said. “Marketers should understand how all of this process is coming together and how they are leveraging technology to truly understand what points along the chain could be impeded.”

While 56% of marketing executives said campaign design, development and execution are important, just 16% responded that they are focusing on production, warehousing, inventory management or delivery. Additionally, only 2% are looking to optimize the actual delivery, fulfillment or distribution of their critical marketing materials.

“Too often, we don't know what happens after we sign off on the creative,” said Miller. “But because there's that blind spot, there's also incredible opportunity.”

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MAGAZINE INDUSTRY NEWS

Magazine readership remains strong according to Affinity's American Magazine study(PR Newswire – November 30, 2010)Original Link: http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/magazine-readership-remains-strong-according-to-affinitys-american-magazine-study-111042724.html

Affinity released today the Fall wave of its American Magazine Study, which reports magazine audience estimates for the country's leading publications.

According to AMS, more than 188 million American adults currently read printed magazines. Readership among women skews higher than men, with 84% of women and 80% of men reporting that they read at least one magazine title. The average consumer reads 6.1 different magazine titles.

Beginning with its Spring 2011 release, Affinity will expand the scope of the AMS Service to report magazine audience estimates that include a host of digital platforms - mobile magazine apps, magazine Web sites, publishers' social media sites and electronic subscriptions. This will mark the first time that advertisers, agencies and publishers will have access to syndicated audience data and reader profiles that reflect the reach of a magazine's brand across multiple platforms.

According to Tony Incalcatera, Chief Operating Officer of Affinity, "Traditional methodologies can not keep pace with the expanding definition of the magazine brand. As publishers escalate their entry into the world of digital content delivery, Affinity's American Magazine Study is evolving to measure all of the ways that publishers are leveraging digital technologies to extend the reach of their brands."

The Fall release of the AMS study represents interviews with more than 34,000 American adults over the past year. AMS audience estimates are integrated with advertising effectiveness scores from Affinity's VISTA Service to report the audience delivery of issue-specific magazine campaigns. In addition, AMS audience estimates are integrated with Experian Simmons' National Consumer Study (NCS), combining in-depth consumer targeting capabilities with a contemporary, Web-based approach to magazine audience measurement.

Year-End Roundup: Mag ads up, but well off '07 peak (Mediaweek – November 24, 2010)Original Link: http://www.mediaweek.com/mw/content_display/news/magazines-newspapers/e3icb5eee0f228ca229f66fb81c4dcda01d?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+Mediaweek-Magazines-And-Newspaper+%28Mediaweek+News+-+Magazines+and+Newspaper%29

After a brutal ad downturn, magazines finally turned a corner in 2010. But total ad pages are far off their pre–ad recession peak and the spending outlook is uncertain, tempering optimism for the medium.

Ad pages grew nearly 5 percent to 141,938 across the 168 titles tracked by the Mediaweek Monitor. But to give a sense of how deep the recession cut, that’s 30 percent below the pages generated in 2007, when the Monitor tracked 196 titles (many of which folded in the ad recession).

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That’s not to say there aren’t signs of rebirth. The fastest-growing titles of 2010 were newbies Food Network Magazine, which grew 79 percent; and People StyleWatch, up 49 percent.

But others with a distinct point of view and/or strong integrated sales approaches also did well, like the 153-year-old Atlantic, which was up 24 percent. Other big gainers were Elle Décor, up 35 percent; and Fast Company, up 27 percent.

Categories that rely on ad categories that are relatively recession-resistant (food, beauty) tended to fare the best. The fastest-growing were bridal, up 17 percent; food, up 15 percent; and parenting, up 12 percent.

While 2010 was a year of recovery for most, many titles still struggled, especially men’s, enthusiast, travel and shelter, reflecting weakness in ad spending for auto, travel and home products.

The biggest decliners by percentage change were SI Kids, down 38 percent; Country Living, down 26 percent; Coastal Living, down 26 percent; and Newsweek, down 18 percent.

In magazine world, a new crop of chiefs (The New York Times – November 28, 2010)Original Link: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/11/29/business/media/29mag.html?_r=1

For the magazine business, 2011 will be a year to watch — and not just because it could hold answers to lingering questions about the financial health of the industry.

Next year will be the first in a decade and a half that the four largest American magazine companies will all have new leaders, making it possible to judge whether the recent troubles in publishing can be addressed by changes in the executive suite. Or, if not, whether the problems run deeper than they now appear.

Over the summer, the magazine world’s own Velvet Revolution played out — a quick change of hands with relatively little discord: Ann Moore was out at Time Inc. after eight years as chief executive, replaced by Jack Griffin, who was poached from his job leading Meredith’s magazine division. Meredith, the publishing giant responsible for Better Homes and Gardens and Family Circle, promoted one of Mr. Griffin’s deputies, Tom Harty.

At Condé Nast, Charles H. Townsend, who had held the dual role of chief executive and president since 2004, agreed to hand over the job of president to a protégé, Robert A. Sauerberg. And David Carey, a longtime Condé Nast executive, departed to lead Hearst Magazines, displacing Cathleen P. Black, a publishing industry fixture for three decades and now the embattled choice of Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg to be the New York City schools chancellor.

Not since the mid-1990s have those jobs turned over in quick succession, and that time, the changes happened over two years. Strikingly, the economic picture then was similar to what is occurring today. The business had just begun to spring back from the devastating effects of a recession that drove away advertisers and forced publishers to close magazines.

The new cadre of executives at the time — Steven T. Florio at Condé Nast, Christopher M. Little at Meredith, Don Logan at Time Inc. and Ms. Black at Hearst — would steer their companies through periods

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of expansion and prosperity through the rest of the decade and beyond, an era when successful publications like O: The Oprah Magazine, Teen Vogue and Real Simple were born.

Whether the rebound from the economic collapse of 2008 and 2009 will prove as robust is an unsettled —and, to many, an unsettling — question. But there is little doubt that the next generation of magazine company executives is confronting a media landscape in which the margin for error is far smaller, and uncertainty about whether readers and advertisers will remain loyal is more palpable than ever.

“This is the changing of the guard from an older school to a newer school,” said Justin B. Smith, president of the Atlantic Media Company. The changes, he added, were part of an inevitable evolution in publishing that was perhaps long overdue. “It is quite remarkable that it took until 2010, 15 years after the arrival of the Internet, for a new generation of leaders to emerge.”

Indeed, the new generation is certainly more youthful, by corporate standards at least. Mr. Harty, 47, is the youngest. Mr. Carey and Mr. Sauerberg are both 49, and Mr. Griffin is 50.

They have either followed unconventional paths to the top or come from outside the companies they now help lead. Mr. Griffin was wooed from his job leading Meredith’s national media group to come to Time Inc.

Mr. Carey left Condé Nast to head Hearst Magazines, a crosstown rival. Mr. Sauerberg rose through the ranks at Condé Nast not through the more traditional publisher’s path but through the consumer marketing division.

Mr. Harty came to Meredith, which publishes female-oriented publications, from the Golf Digest Companies.

“You have to bring in someone who understands the magazine business, but you don’t want to bring in a virgin,” said Jack Kliger, the former chief executive of Hachette Filipacchi Media, publisher of magazines like Elle and Car and Driver (and which named a new chief executive itself in September). “I think the overwhelming message here is that these companies are looking for change agents.”

But Condé Nast, Hearst, Meredith and Time Inc. differ considerably in their approach to change — and the degree to which they feel that change is necessary. The one certainty they all seem to embrace is a once-bitten-twice-shy caution about advertising revenue.

“Through the ’90s when magazine advertising was growing at respectable rates year over year, the industry focused disproportionately on advertising,” Mr. Griffin, a hockey player and marathon runner who is known for an economical, to-the-point speaking style, said in a recent interview. “The laser focus on the consumer took a subsidiary seat for some period of time. What I’m doing at Time Inc. is making it pre-eminent again.”

At Time, the world’s largest magazine publisher, Mr. Griffin said he wanted to reintroduce the concept of “charging a fair price, and charging consumers who are interested in the product.”

In other words, consumers can expect to pay more. “We spent a tremendous amount of money creating original content, original journalism, fact-checking, sending reporters overseas to cover wars,” he said. “You name it. What we’ve got to do as a business is get fair value for that.”

Supplementing that approach, Mr. Griffin said, will be new partnerships within Time Warner, Time Inc.’s parent company, that allow magazines to take advantage of the vast film and visual resources at their

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disposal. One such partnership in the planning stages, he said, is a deal between a major cosmetics company and InStyle to broadcast from the red carpets of big Hollywood events like the Academy Awards and the Screen Actors Guild Awards.

These kinds of partnerships are central to Mr. Griffin’s vision, but some are not without impact on Time Inc.’s staff. The company recently eliminated a small number of positions in its business operations after consolidating resources with Time Warner.

Condé Nast, long the king of the $1-an-issue subscription, has also come to embrace a fair-value philosophy under Mr. Sauerberg. In an interview, Mr. Sauerberg said he and his staff had been working on creating what he called “12-course content meals” — package deals that would include access to multiple Condé Nast magazines delivered in multiple ways, like print, tablet, mobile and Internet, as well as invitations to magazine-sponsored events.

“Think about our magazines as, let’s say, a good content meal,” said Mr. Sauerberg, a man with a laconic demeanor who speaks in a soft, gravely tone. “What would a great meal be? What would a 12-course unbelievable meal be? Would it be a magazine? What’s the mobile experience? What kind of event does this person want to come to? What personal advice do I need to hear about something that’s really important to me?”

Higher prices seem to be an inevitable part of that package. “We have a group of people who are so committed to our brands that I could easily see them wanting to commit to a bigger monthly commitment for lots of things they get because they’re such junkies,” Mr. Sauerberg added.

At Hearst and Meredith, which were already fairly lean companies and were less affected than Time Inc. and Condé Nast when the advertising market collapsed, changes have been considered with less urgency.

One notable change Mr. Carey made quietly at Hearst this fall was to dissolve the longstanding divide that kept online sales operations separate from the magazines themselves. (Condé Nast made a similar move late last month.)

“It felt largely siloed between print and digital,” said Mr. Carey, who has a gentle, pensive affect and an eye for fashionable suits. “I think we felt the need to give publishers permission and give them the sense that they could bring ever-more complex print and digital packages to their clients.” He has now added the title “chief revenue officer” to the nameplate of every publisher.

“The way people perceive them, the way they are introduced to clients, the way they are written about in the press,” he added, should convey “a broad mandate to generate revenue.”

As for new business initiatives, Mr. Carey said Hearst was planning more joint ventures along the lines of its existing deals with Harpo, Oprah Winfrey’s production company, which publishes O with Hearst, and Food Network, which teamed up with Hearst to publish the Food Network Magazine.

“Stay tuned for more announcements on the partnership front,” he said, declining to elaborate.

Meredith, which of the four publishers is arguably the most diversified with its successful television and book publishing businesses and was the least affected by the recession, sees no need for wholesale

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change. “We don’t have to do these dramatic reorganizations or take drastic measures to get people in line,” Mr. Harty said. “We don’t have to tear down silos.”

But one thing Mr. Harty said the company was examining: expanding its licensed products. The company already pulls in more than a billion dollars a year selling products with a Better Homes and Gardens license at Wal-Mart stores. It is now planning to sell plants and bulbs with the magazine’s imprimatur directly to consumers.

“We have relationships with all these consumers,” Mr. Harty said. “How can we figure out how to sell them goods and services? We believe that’s a key.”

Mr. Harty, burly in build and quick with a self-deprecating joke, laughed when asked about any overarching strategy and remarked, “What I’ve attempted to do is not screw up what’s been going very well.”

Next Issue newsstand to launch with limited offerings(Mediaweek – November 30, 2010)Original Link: http://www.mediaweek.com/mw/content_display/news/magazines-newspapers/e3ie805375f7f1dfebffb75a076cd9d162e?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+Mediaweek-Magazines-And-Newspaper+%28Mediaweek+News+-+Magazines+and+Newspaper%29

Next Issue Media, a publishing joint venture, is targeting a first-quarter launch of its digital newsstand, but will fall short of being an industrywide, device-agnostic storefront.

The newsstand will start out selling print and digital titles of NIM’s founding companies (Condé Nast, Hearst, Meredith, News Corp. and Time Inc.), with the goal of adding other publishers’ titles over time, Morgan Guenther, NIM’s president and CEO, said in an interview.

That means e-reader versions of major titles like Elle, Maxim and The Economist won’t initially be available, although Guenther said NIM’s five founders represent 80 percent of subscription volume in the U.S.

Guenther said the storefront would give publishers access to customer information they consider critical to their business (and which they’ve been denied by Apple’s App store for the iPad).

Publishers will be able to set their own prices and sell digital subscriptions, single copies and print/digital bundles using Vindicia, a digital billing provider. A customer lookup feature will let publishers target offers to consumers based on their purchase history.

“At end of the day, this lets newspapers and magazines grow the size of the pie,” Guenther said.

A big missing piece is a deal with Apple. Guenther said while the aim is to have agreements with all device makers, the storefront would initially only work for Android devices.

“The goal is to have this fully stocked storefront across tablets and other hi-res devices,” said Guenther. “We’re focusing the launch around Android, and there’s a large group that's coming to market, [with] both seven-inch and 10-inch displays. We’ll also be Apple-ready and Web-OS-ready, and each of those requires [striking] the right deals.”

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At its 2009 launch, NIM said one of its goals was to develop a common system for publishing titles across multiple e-reading devices. Today, Guenther said NIM hasn’t given up on that idea but declined to give specifics.

“Our focus is on the delivery of an immersive digital reading experience,” he said. “The idea over time is to develop common standards, common readers. That’s something we’re working on.”

Magazines take a shot at the net (The New York Times – November 28, 2010)Original Link: http://mediadecoder.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/11/28/magazines-take-a-shot-at-the-net/

So which is better: a print magazine or its digital version?

The newest ad for the nation’s major magazine publishers, which have been running a promotional campaign to counter perceptions that print is a dying medium, doesn’t side with its newer medium.

“This is not the Internet. Feel free to curl up and settle in,” begins the two-page spread, which features a full-page picture of a woman lounging in a hammock strung between two palm trees. She does not appear to be reading a magazine.

“Magazines don’t blink on and off,” the ad reads. “They don’t show video or deliver ads that pop up out of nowhere. You can’t DVR magazines and you can’t play games on them.”

Previous ads, which have all carried the tagline “Magazines: The Power of Print,” highlighted the strength of the print business. But they did not go as far as to actually assail the Internet.

This new approach may seem somewhat strange coming from an industry that has spent the last few years tearing down the institutional walls between print and online operations.

There is also all the money and resources — tens of millions of dollars at each of the largest publishing companies — that they have poured into creating iPad versions and other digital formats of their titles.

But the ad’s chief creator, Michael A. Clinton, president of marketing and publishing director for Hearst Magazines, said the news that magazines are thriving needed attention even if publishing is an increasingly digital business.

“Magazines didn’t have a consumer problem; they had an advertising problem,” he said, stressing that the fundamentals of the business are solid despite the decline in advertising spending that forced many publishers last year to lay off employees and shut down titles.

“We have to be delivering our content in different ways,” he said, “but in a continually digitized world, the interesting thing is the passion people still have for the print product.”

The campaign, which began in March and was designed by Y&R New York, has been a joint effort by Hearst, Time Inc., Condé Nast, Meredith and Wenner Media, all of which have run the ads in their magazines.

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The Association of Magazine Media has also thrown its support behind the ads. Formerly known as the Magazine Publishers of America, the group recently changed its name because its leaders wanted a less print-centric title.

Hearst eyes French deal for Elle, Woman's Day(The New York Post – December 2, 2010)Original Link: http://www.nypost.com/p/news/business/hearst_hungry_for_french_deal_Gwg1n8l0t6kBh7ikJ6BJfI

Lagardere Active, the Paris-based media conglomerate that owns the US editions of Elle and Woman's Day, confirmed yesterday it wants to unload its non-French magazine holdings.

Hearst Corp., sources said, is the front-runner to do a deal.

Talks between the publishing heavyweights surrounding the non-French titles have been on and off again for the past year. A year ago talks centered on Elle and Elle Décor as joint ventures.

Hearst and Lagardere had recently stepped up their Elle discussions to explore a "global deal," The Post's Media Ink reported in July.

"Hearst is trying to figure out a way to make it work," one source said. The asking price is believed to be "well north of $500 million."

"We don't speculate on rumor as a matter of policy," a Hearst spokesman said when asked about a possible purchase.

If a Hearst deal doesn't happen, the Paris company may be hard-pressed to find another single buyer.

Bauer Publications, a German-based media giant which publishes supermarket-oriented titles in the US, including In Touch and Woman's World, is rumored to be interested -- but the only title that fits easily into its formula is Woman's Day.

Elle would seem to be a welcome addition to Condé Nast, but the once-dominant company has been trying to put its house in order, and the Newhouse family has in the past shown zero appetite for joint ventures.

Time Inc. declined to comment, but one person familiar with the situation said it "waved off" the company several months ago.

A Lagardere spokeswoman said the firm is interested in either a "partner" or "sale" for everything outside of France, where it's the largest magazine publisher.

The company intends to maintain "editorial control" of the worldwide titles of Elle, which has worldwide licensing deals.

Its US stable also includes Car and Driver, Road & Track and Cycle World.

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Harman visits ‘Beast’ staff; Tina swings by Newsweek(Yahoo – December 1, 2010)Original Link: http://news.yahoo.com/s/yblog_thecutline/20101201/bs_yblog_thecutline/1480

Since announcing their pending deal to combine operations last month, The Daily Beast and Newsweek haven't revealed much about what their marriage will look like.

But there have been plenty of meetings.

Daily Beast editor Tina Brown and Newsweek owner Sidney Harman have each met with their own staffs. And Tina Brown has met both with Newsweek's New York-based staff and editorial hands in its D.C. bureau. Daily Beast deputy editor Tom Watson even took a meeting with the staff of Newsweek.com to calm anxieties over the prospect of layoffs in the wake of the deal's formal consummation early next year.

But it wasn't until Wednesday morning that Harman went over to Barry Diller'a IAC headquarters to meet with his new employees at The Daily Beast.

Don't get too excited -- it was just a brief "good will" chat that produced "no clear answers about the direction" the Newsweek Daily Beast Co. will be taking, according to a person on hand, who requested anonymity due to the ongoing state of negotiations.

Nevertheless, the 92-year-old Harman continues to charm. His entrance was greeted with a long round of applause, to which he coyly quipped, "I'm not gonna tell you to stop!" our source said.

Meanwhile, Brown was making the rounds in Newsweek's new offices in Manhattan's Financial District late this afternoon, the "dark, dingy fifth-floor space" that reportedly horrified her when she first toured it several weeks ago.

The Daily Beast is soon supposed to relocate from its plush perch in the Frank Ghery-designed IAC building to Newsweek's new digs, which staffers of the iconic weekly also are none too fond of, by most reports. (The space apparently features "filth-covered windows that block all sunlight.") Newsweek insiders speculate that The Daily Beast will not end up moving there--which would mean the operation would relocate to a different Tina Brown-approved workspace.

"The finer points of our merger with Newsweek are still being finalized, office space being one of them," Andrew Kirk, a Daily Beast spokesman, told The Cutline.

Kirk said Brown had visited Newsweek today to -- you guessed it -- meet with staff, "a process which she has recently begun, and which will continue over the coming weeks."

And there's one last meeting to report -- the one that brought former Conde Nast Portfolio editor Joanne Lipman to The Beast's offices this afternoon.

Brown, who will assume the top masthead position at both publications once the merger is finalized, is in the process of recruiting new staffers for the venture.

Could Lipman be one of them?

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Perhaps. But sources say she was actually there to have lunch with The Beast's executive editor, Edward Felsenthal, who is an old friend.