Erik Sass writes at MediaPost about the fall in motoring and IT titles which I have discussed here previously. Sass writes:
Figures for ad pages and revenue from the Publishers Information Bureau tell the story. For January-September, automotive ad pages fell 12.7 percent compared to the same period last year, from 16,182 to 14,129; and ad revenue fell 10.1 percent, from about $1.65 billion to $1.48 billion. Tech ad pages are up 2.2 percent to 8,157, and revenue is up 6.8 percent to $769 million. But most of that is going to mass-market magazines, including cell phone and home PC advertising, leaving niche titles out in the cold.
Technology is the challenge for these titles, technology which enables would be magazine buyers to gain for timely and often more cost-effective satisfaction using other media.
This is one reason why we reduced the real-estate allocated to computer titles six months ago and are in the process of doing the same with motoring titles at the moment. For example, how many Classis Cars titles do I need to satisfy that interest. Five? Ten? Most sales in this segment, as you’d expect, come from three titles. The other seven are cash depleting filler.
We need a magazine supply model which responds to these trends.