At the Bauer Media Connections conference on the Gold Coast yesterday I was interested to see data shared by Ovato about the reduction in magazine titles being circulated over the last 3 years. I appreciated seeing the drop broken down by local / UK / US.
While there have been some magazine launches over the 3 years, the reality is we have less titles in circulation today compared to 3 years ago. This is a good thing in my view.
Shopper interest in special interest and more m mainstream titles is easily satisfied by the reduced range on offer today. Indeed, we could see a cut of, say, 25% in some segments without a negative impact on sales.
What often happens in a business with more titles in the same segment is a more diverse mix of titles sold rather than a desired increase in total revenue for the segment. Competing titles can cannibalise each other. Retailers do not benefit from this.
So, I am pleased to see this data from Ovato showing a net reduction in the range of titles available.