A few more titles closing, changing frequency, merging, courtesy of FeaturesExec.
God bless us every one.
A few bits and pieces of magazines closing down. None of them very big, none of them very famous, but all of them handing out P45s for Christmas.
Another day, another gloomy forecast about the publishing industry. This one is from Deloitte and is summarised in Media Week.
Declining advertising revenues, increasing costs, and a dismal economy may all combine to deliver a devastating blow to print media in 2009,… The industry outlook is said to have gone from “difficult to almost impossible”, with ad revenues expected to drop 20%, … and supplemented by a 10% drop in subscriptions. The report also notes that titles that have gone online are “not even getting close” to replacing the decline in revenue generated by print advertising and subscriptions
Some thought it would run for ever, but this afternoon the curtain seems to have come down on one of publishing’s best-loved productions. Yes folks: Reed shelves sale
I don’t know about you guys, but I’m going to miss it. (more…)
When Private Frazer was a wee bairn, a poond note would buy you a night at the pictures, a fish supper and change for the bus ride home. Those days seem to be returning as for just a quid you can pick up either Woolworths or Tribune magazine.
One, of course, retains a lot of affection, but its glory days are long behind it. A brand without a point or a purpose, it has struggled on for years losing money and customers and without any clear sense of direction. The other is Woolworths (boom boom).
If Private Frazer had a spare quid (which I don’t, so there’s nae point you asking), he’d hang on to it; the way the RBI sale price is dropping he might be able to pick up the whole of Quadrant house in a week or two.
The RBI drama is approaching its cliffhanger ending – will the hero swoop in and save the girl, or will everything crash and burn?
If these paragraphs in the Independent’s report are anything to go by then both could be correct.
Reed Elsevier…is close to selling [RBI] to US buyout group Bain Capital for $1bn (£680m), after its main rival …the private equity group TPG dropped out of the auction…after its investment committee last weekend decided the acquisition was too risky in the current economic climate.
Rival media groups are surprised that Bain is keen to plough on with the deal, given the likely continued deterioration of advertising revenues. However, an industry source pointed out that Reed had not taken … costs out of the business, offering RBI’s new owner quick savings through restructuring.
If you (currently) work for RBI, you probably shouldn’t max out your credit cards this Christmas. (more…)
The UK media sector will fare the worst of any developed country in 2009 … The forecast from WPP‘s media buying subsidiary Group M makes for grim reading, with UK national newspaper advertising set to be down 12% year on year in 2009, regional titles down 13%, and the business-to-business magazine sector down 14%. [Media Guardian]
Or may be you should if the Enders forecast for the next four years is anywhere near true…
As many as 200,000 additional UK media jobs will be lost by 2013, on top of the thousands that have already been lost in the first months of the global recession, according to Enders Analysis.
More here at Brand Republic and Media Money
Give praise everyone, the publishing industry is saved! Peaches Geldof (famous for being somebody’s daughter) and James Brown (famous for launching a successful magazine in the last century and losing lots of people lots of money ever since), have just launched Disappear Here. If ever a magazine was appropriately named, this is it. The big question – will the magazine last longer than Peaches’ marriage?
Private Frazer's Doomed Magazines 