Archive for January 23, 2009
Magazines Cease Publication as a Result of Advertising Slumps
According to an article in today’s edition of the Washington Post a number of home design magazines are unexpectedly ceasing publication. At the end of 2007 Time Inc’s In Style Home, Martha Stewart’s Blueprint, Filipacchi Media’s Home, and the 106-year-old magazine House & Garden all called it quits. Since November of 2008 Time Inc’s Cottage Living, Hearst Magazine’s O at Home, and Meredith Corp.’s Country Living also announced their collapse.
A number of factors can be blamed for the demise including over-saturation of home improvement magazines in the market and the “24-hour availability of design information on the TV, radio and Internet,” but according to the article the “biggest contributor is the economic downturn.”
A number of magazines folded despite an extremely loyal fan base and high circulation. House & Garden had nearly 1 million in circulation when it died. It seems advertisers have chosen to focus their dollars on high-income earners, leaving a lot of magazines focused on lower and middle markets in the lurch.
I would imagine that this will be the first of many industries to be hit by the lack of advertising revenue.
