Captivating Connections.

bring on the tablets!!

The magazine industry is preparing for war when it comes to tablets.

"After letting the Internet slip away from them and watching electronic readers like the Kindle from Amazon develop without their input, publishers are trying again with Apple iPhones and, especially, tablet computers.

Although publishers have not exactly been on the cutting edge of technology, two magazines — Esquire and GQ — have developed iPhone versions, while Wired and Sports Illustrated have made mockups of tablet versions of their print editions, months before any such tablets come to market. Publishers are using the opportunity to fix their business model, too.

'It may help them reassert some, not just control, but reassert themselves and not be in the death spiral that some were in in the last years,' said Ned May, director and lead analyst for the research firm Outsell."

an itunes for the print world?

Interesting...

"A consortium of magazine publishers including Time Inc. and Condé Nast plan to jointly build an online newsstand for publications in multiple digital formats, according to people with knowledge of the plans.

The formation of a new company to run the online newsstand — sometimes characterized as an 'iTunes for magazines' — may be announced in early December. Time, Condé Nast, Hearst and Meredith all intend to be equity partners in the new company, although the deals have not yet been signed.

In the face of slumping print circulations for many magazines, the publishing houses are eager to exert some control over digital readership, said people at the companies, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to talk about the plans. Some newspaper owners have also expressed interest in the joint venture.

In other media sectors, rivals have already formed joint ventures for the Web. Several television networks are stakeholders in Hulu, an online television and film Web site. Some music labels are partners in Vevo, a music video site powered by YouTube that will make its debut next month."

bloomberg to buy businessweek.

"Bloomberg is taking another step from the trading floor into the corner office.

The company said Tuesday that it was the winning bidder for BusinessWeek, the troubled 80-year-old title that McGraw-Hill had put on sale this summer.

Terms of the deal were not disclosed, but the price was said to be near $5 million, plus assumption of liabilities, which were $31.9 million as of April.

The magazine will continue to be a weekly print publication, rechristened Bloomberg BusinessWeek. Decisions have not been made about BusinessWeek’s staff of more than 400 people; Bloomberg will select which of those employees it wants by the end of the year, when the deal closes. Those not selected will receive severance from McGraw-Hill, said a BusinessWeek executive."

WSJ vs USA Today.

"It's official: The Wall Street Journal has overtaken USA Today for the title of biggest paper in the U.S.

The Wall Street Journal told Advertising Age today that its new report with the Audit Bureau of Circulations will show average paid circulation of 2.02 million copies over the six months ending in September, up from 2.01 million in the period a year earlier.

That will handily topple the longtime circulation champion USA Today, which told Editor & Publisher last week that it's reporting average paid circulation of 1.88 million, down from nearly 2.3 million as a cover-price hike and declining hotel occupancy took their toll."

magazines have seen better days.

The latest numbers don't exactly flatter magazines...

"So far in 2009, the magazine business looks a lot like the Jon and Kate Gosselin divorce splayed all over the supermarket tabloids: you have to look very hard to find a winner.

With already-dismal ad figures for the first half of 2009, magazine publishers turned in their circulation figures on Monday, showing that newsstand sales plummeted 12.4 percent in the first half of this year. Newsstand sales are thought to be a bellwether for the economy, or at least for how willing consumers are to fork over $5 for an impulse purchase.

The good news was that paid subscriptions actually increased a bit, meaning that over all, circulation fell 1.2 percent, according to the Audit Bureau of Circulations report. Newsstand sales were down for all but one of Hearst’s magazines, although only three were down 20 percent or more: SmartMoney (down 35.1 percent), Redbook (down 23.5 percent) and Town & Country (down 20 percent). The Hearst figures exclude Food Network Magazine, which was not measured because it is a new publication."

newsstand sales down.

It's another grim news day for magazines, but it's not all dark clouds:

"Recession and a dispute with magazine wholesalers combined to hammer many titles' newsstand sales in the first half of this year -- much as publishers worried they would. That's based on new numbers from many publishers in the lead-up to a big semi-annual report from the Audit Bureau of Circulations.

Happily for the industry, many magazines rely much more on subscriptions, which seemed to hold up better. Reader's Digest saw newsstand sales sink 20% from the first half of 2008, for example, but those single-copy sales represent a sliver of its circulation. Subscriptions, comprising 92% of the pie, fell a much more manageable 3%, so Reader's Digest still exceeded its circulation guarantee to advertisers."

jpmorgan chase sudden major media player.

Jamie Dimon, the CEO of JPMorgan Chase, considered by many to be the country's most influential and successful bank executive, can add another title to his resume: Accidental media mogul.

That's right. The banker, thanks to the sagging economy, which has cratered several media giants leaving the lender in the driver's seat, now holds sway over Readers Digest, Source Interlink Media and American Media Inc. -- which have combined revenues of about $5.04 billion.

That's more than Time Inc., generally considered the nation's No. 1 magazine publisher with its stable-leading Sports Illustrated and People titles helping it ring up $4.6 billion in revenue last year, and the combined revenue of Hearst, publisher of Esquire, and Condé Nast, the parent of Vogue.

and it starts.

"The Economist has launched a single copy subscription service that allows readers to order just one copy of the magazine for home delivery the next day.

The Economist Direct allows UK readers to place an order online or via text message for a single copy of the latest issue of the weekly publication.

The service does not require readers to commit to subscribing to the magazine for any period and the cost of the magazine is £4 – the same as the newsstand price."

new from usa today.

"USA Today, the nation’s top-selling newspaper, will be launching next Monday, Aug. 3, its first e-Edition as an exact replica version of USA TODAY featuring additional interactive and exclusive content. It will also include a Saturday-Sunday edition called USA TODAY EXTRA, 'the first-ever regular weekend product from USA TODAY, available only to print edition and e-Edition subscribers.'"

internet NOT always top news source.

According to Pew Research Center, "Television, radio and newspapers beat the Internet as sources of economic news in the U.S. as people sought information about the recession."

See? People don't live (only) on the Internet.

"The survey, conducted in March and April and released today, shows that 84 percent of those who answered watched TV or listened to the radio for general economic news, 64 percent checked newspapers, magazines and books, and 48 percent went online."

Something else to note is that "Among Internet users who have high-speed access, the Web is the most important source for information about personal finance, the poll shows."

According to Lee Rainie from Pew, “We have consistently seen that traditional media and particular TV is still the number one way most Americans get political news and information. It’s an information-intensive environment and people are using multiple sources for their different needs as they try to make meaning out of what’s going on as well as make personal decisions."