May

5 things to look out for at tomorrow’s Publishing +

Publishing +, the PPA’s annual conference, takes place tomorrow bringing together the great and the good of the magazine industry.

Here are five things to keep an eye out for as the day unfolds:

Lord Hunt, Chair of the PCC, talking about his vision for a free, self-regulating press
Brand new insight on payment models for media businesses from Wessenden Marketing
The role of the brand in publishing including the thoughts of Andrew Rashbass, Chief Executive of The Economist Group
Tips on turning data into engaging content from Simon Rogers, editor of The Guardian’s Datablog and Datastore
Creative thought leadership from top execs from BBC Worldwide, IPC, Bauer Media and UBM

Plus, a sneak preview of new ITV show The Exclusives – featuring six wannabe magazine journalists -which goes on-air later this month

Get more details on the conference here and follow all the day’s events using #ppaconf

Apr

Magazines offer up haven from pressures of modern living

Another week, another spate of new magazine launches. In amongst the obligatory ‘digital-first’ headlines from most new magazine launches, Bauer Media have this week launched a new magazine that proudly has a ‘print-first’ strategy. Called LandScape, the magazine spent a year being researched and is aimed at women aged 35 and upwards, with a keen interest in the countryside and nature. The magazine, published on high quality, glossy paper, will have a print circulation of 170,000

“The magazine is a haven from the pressures of modern living; a chance to slow down,” commented LandScape’s editor, Sheena Harvey. ‘‘It’s a calm and relaxing read and an escape from the stresses of everyday life. It’s also a unique opportunity for advertisers to reach a passionate and discerning group of consumers.”

Research from the PPA, the Professional Publisher’s Association, seems to back up Harvey’s claim. A National Readership Survey shows that 3 million more UK women read a printed magazine than go online. In advertising terms that means that a campaign which used the internet and not printed magazines would FAIL TO REACH the equivalent of the entire female population of Denmark. There you go.

Obviously there are numerous brilliant tablet incarnations of magazines, and more will arrive by the day, but the fact is we’re a country that still loves print magazines. Today’s Deloitte’s sixth annual State of the Media Survey featured in Press Gazette of people who read magazine content in 2011 preferred to do so in print, unchanged since 2010. And 2011 was a good year for magazine subscriptions, with 35% of respondents saying they subscribed to at least one magazine, up from 29% in 2010.

So for all the digital-first headlines, PRs should make sure print magazines continue to be high up on their radar for years to come yet. The PPA suggests that every man, woman and child flicks their way through 20 copies a year and in doing so they spend around £2bn in cover price. So don’t feel old-fashioned in putting your smartphone down for a while and indulging yourself in print. The medium’s well and truly here to stay!

406 days ago Short URL Comments

Digital/Magazines/Uncategorized

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Mar

Magazines get social at The Big Bauer Debate

This week saw three of Bauer Media’s editors – Lucie Cave from Heat, James McMahon from Kerrang! & Alison Perry from more! – join a panel with Twitter’s UK head of sales, Bruce Daisley and Carat’s head of social media, Ben Ayers for a topical debate about the relationship journalists and magazines have with social media. The Big Bauer Debate was held during Carat’s press week.

Trade media press coverage following the recent ABCs has been dominated by talk of magazine tablet editions and whether the brands are fully utilising digital platforms as a whole. As Alasdair Reid put it in his Campaign article this week, tablets have given publishers a second chance to make amends after the “land-grab” mentality of magazine websites that basically gave away content for free – see the full article here… Campaign – Magazine tablet editions

Before I hand the mic over to Mr Ray Snoddy – the debate’s chairperson – to fill you in on the panel, my top 3 takeaways were:

1. Social media lets us find our readers, rather than them having to come to us – Kerrang editor, James McMahon

2. Magazines need to get better at packaging up their commercial offering to give brands 360 penetration, including print, online, tablets & social media. In addition, brands want to work with editors – who naturally know their audiences – to create campaigns that are fully integrated and targeted – Ben Ayers, head of social media, Carat

3. The print magazine is the mothership – everything else compliments that, including social media – Heat editor, Lucie Cave

And now over to Ray for an interesting take on proceedings … MediaTel – Should magazines embrace social media?

Aug

Turning the radio dial up to 11

It was a great day for radio yesterday and the industry has been celebrating the biggest ever listening figures to radio in the UK. We’ve been pushing the message hard for London’s number 1 station, Magic 105.4 and the rest of the stations in the Bauer Place Portfolio and Bauer Passion Portfolio. I can share the full details of the results for these stations below and in particular it’s worth noting the performance of the Rickie, Melvin and Charlie breakfast show on Kiss FM which now has a weekly audience of 1.6M listeners nationwide.

One of the most interesting points is still the question of tracking and monitoring the new ways of listening to radio. Speaking of my own experiences, I now use my iphone as a portable radio around the home and garden, choosing radio stations via the TuneIn Radio app and streaming the play over wi-fi. I love it. It means I can take radio anywhere with me and I have all my favourite stations, commercial and BBC, bookmarked. And then there’s the playback facility in apps like KissKube – KissStory’s brilliant. Which underlines the importance of programming brands as well as the overall radio station brand. So, I’m listening to more radio than ever before (and it’s not even the footy season!) but none of that listening is being officially tracked. Something’s got to give…

In the meantime, here is the release in full:

BAUER INCREASES REACH TO 13.8m LISTENERS IN UK

MAGIC 105.4 RETURNS TO No.1 MUSIC STATION IN LONDON, AHEAD OF BBC RADIO 2

- Magic 105.4 (London) and Kiss FM (national) register highest ever reach -

- Bauer Place Portfolio and Bauer Passion Portfolio increase reach and hours year-on-year -

LONDON, Thursday 4 August: Bauer has increased its reach across the UK from 13m to 13.8m listeners year-on-year (yoy), with Magic 105.4 returning to number one music station in London ahead of BBC Radio 2, BBC Radio 1, Capital and Heart. Magic 105.4 and national youth brand KISS FM recorded highest ever reach, up 11.7% and 14.7% respectively (yoy).

Bauer Place Portfolio –

Big in all the right places

The Bauer Place Portfolio increased its national reach by 4.5% (yoy) from 8.7m listeners to 9.1m listeners around the country. Listening hours increased 1.4% (yoy). This supports Bauer’s strategy of increasing listener engagement through relevant and local programming content, which is tailor made by local stations that broadcast to and from the places they live.

Bauer Place Portfolio is headlined by flagship station Magic 105.4, which returned to the number one spot in London after a spectacular quarter that saw an increase in reach of 14.4% quarter on quarter (qoq) and 11.7% (yoy) to almost 2.3m listeners. Hours and market share also increased, rising 19.4% (qoq) and 15.1% (qoq) respectively. The station was boosted by its on and off air promotion of the inaugural ‘Magic Summer Live’ event with Sir Elton John, the Lighthouse Family and Rumer. Breakfast presenter Neil Fox increased reach by 4.3% to 845k (qoq), to commercial number two ahead of Heart’s Jamie Theakston.

Stations in the Bauer Place Portfolio have also beaten BBC Radio 1 breakfast DJ Chris Moyles across the UK, taking number one spot in markets the length and breadth of the country, including Liverpool, Newcastle, Glasgow, Belfast and Sheffield. In addition to outperforming the BBC, Bauer is also commercial number one for reach and share in all of its 21 markets.

Top performing stations in the regions include –

· Radio City 96.7 in Liverpool, with reach up 12.7% and hours up 23.8% (yoy). It was boosted by the build up to ‘Radio City Live’, featuring artists like Scouting for Girls.

· Metro Radio in Newcastle, with reach up 1.6% and hours up 0.8% (yoy). Highlights included four days of live broadcasts to celebrate the start of Take That’s national tour.

· Clyde 1 in Glasgow, with reach up 8.5% and hours up 8.7% (yoy). Innovations included ‘Seven Saturdays in the Summer’, with broadcasts across the local transmission area.

· 97.4 Cool FM in Belfast, with reach up 9.9% and hours up 6.5% (yoy). Highlights included an outside broadcast from Oxegen Festival, featuring Beyonce, Coldplay and The Script.

· Wave 105 in Southampton, with reach up 18.7% and hours up 26.5% (yoy).

Bauer Passion Portfolio –

Uniting listeners around music and lifestyle

Youth brand KISS FM recorded its highest ever audience – both across the UK and in the competitive London market. Reach jumped from 3.7m to 4.3m listeners across the UK, an increase of 14.7% (yoy), and listening hours also increased by 13.1% (yoy). The KISS FM breakfast show, Rickie, Melvin & Charlie in the Morning, increased its reach nationally by 104,000 listeners (yoy) and now attracts an audience of 1.6m every week. In London, KISS FM is now the biggest station for the all-important 15-24yo, 15-34yo and 15-44yo audience, beating BBC Radio 1, Capital and Heart.

KISS FM headlines the Bauer Passion Portfolio, the home of Bauer’s passionate, iconic brands dedicated to music and lifestyle. The Portfolio increased its reach from 6.4m to 6.6m (yoy), up 3.4%. Listening hours also increased, up 4.3% (yoy).

Within the Portfolio, The Hits also increased its reach from 1.1m to 1.2m, with hours up 5.8% (yoy). Highlights include the brand new ‘Future Hits Live’ event series, intimate gigs featuring emerging artists like Tinchy Stryder, Wretch 32 and girl band, Parade. Popular promotions around ‘Bieber O’Clock’ and Glee saw The Hits become the top trend on Twitter for several days at a time this quarter, supporting Bauer’s strong focus on social media.

Smash Hits also increased its reach significantly, rising from 990k to 1.1m (yoy), whilst listening hours increased 1.6% (yoy). Smash Hits has continually proven the popularity of its jukebox style focus on pop music. The Bauer programming team focuses constantly on tweaking and fine-tuning the playlist, with a view to ensuring the music remains relevant.

Bauer Gets Social

Bauer’s strong focus on the power of social media to enrich the radio experience is reflected in its online and social media numbers. Each month 1.8m fans visit Bauer’s radio websites, total app downloads have now reached 1.5m and over 1.2m fans follow a station on Facebook.

Steve Parkinson, managing director of Bauer Radio London, said: “Our London team is rightly celebrating today’s figures – with both Magic and Kiss enjoying their highest audiences ever. Quite an achievement. Magic is playing the BBC at their own game by using other Bauer platforms such as magazines and TV to promote our service, and Kiss continues to connect with millions of young consumers across radio, and via a huge increase in app downloads and online listening.”

Dee Ford, group managing director radio, Bauer Media said: “I am very pleased to see that the strategy behind Bauer Place Portfolio and Bauer Passion Portfolio is continuing to pay dividends, as we return another strong set of results. I am particularly pleased to see Magic 105.4 return to number one spot in London, with the largest reach of all music stations, including the BBC. Commercial radio as a whole is performing very well and listening hours are up across the board. The rise in digital radio listening hours and reach is also a great story as The Hits and Smash Hits have a positive quarter under the Bauer Passion Portfolio. The Bauer Place Portfolio continues to focus on local programming and we are thrilled to see our hours continue to grow, reflecting our ambition to be ‘big in all the right places’. The results make Bauer commercial market leader for reach and share in each of our 21 markets.”

658 days ago Short URL Comments

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advertising/Bauer/BBC/Content/Kiss/Magic/Media/PR/Radio/RAJAR

Feb

The ups and downs of ABCs

The latest ABCs for magazines have been released today and as always it’s fascinating to see what people are buying and reading. These figures are a valuable guide when planning a PR campaign to understand how magazines are performing and engaging with audiences.

Check out here for a quick snapshot of the top 100 titles:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/table/2011/feb/17/magazine-abcs

Successful publishers are pointing towards subscriptions as a powerful indicator of reader engagement which is a useful point to consider.

While the two biggest titles for men are both free – Sport and Shortlist.

Magazines that are able to capitalise on major popular culture moments seem to be in a strong position such as Egmont’s Toy Story magazine which came out around the release of Toy Story 3 last summer or Empire that consistently aligns with new films.

The quality current affairs magazines continue to rise which is perhaps a reflection of the continuing high levels of interest in the state of the economy in the UK and globally.

As digital continues to make an impact on the media landscape, it also highlights some interesting trends.

Where digital can provide the content in a 24/7 format, magazines are having to fight hard to compete, for example in the men’s weekly magazine sector. Many commentators are speculating that it is close to the end as a sector.

Meanwhile, where digital hasn’t yet provided a mass-market solution, the magazines are doing well, the TV listings title being a case in point (which has also benefited from a recent closure in the sector).

And this is an interesting summary of publishers developing an interest in delivering digital magazines to devices like the iPad.

http://www.brandrepublic.com/news/1055610/magazine-abcs-magazine-brands-launched-ipad-apps/

Finally, if anyone can point me to an easy-to-use online TV listings site that doesn’t require multiple clicks, rather than ringing a page or two with a pen, please let me know!

827 days ago Short URL Comments

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Oct

Rajar reminder of radio’s power

Today’s Rajar figures make good reading for commercial radio owners and proves once again the power and importance of radio as a medium.

In summary:
Commercial radio grew its audience by 19.6% year on year to an all-time high of 2.96 million and narrowed the gap on the BBC in terms of audience share.
The BBC had a 54.3% share of the audience, 10.9% ahead of commercial radio’s 43.4%. This is the corporation’s narrowest lead since the second quarter of 2007.
Digital radio continues to grow in popularity – digital platforms accounting for 24.8% of all listening, up from 24.6% in the previous three months and 21.1% last year.
Magic 105.4 is London’s biggest commercial radio station and has also overtaken BBC Radio 1 and 2 in the London area
Nationally, the BBC Radio 1 and 2 breakfast shows are the headline story because Chris Moyles and Chris Evans have both lost listeners. It will be interesting to see where this takes Chris Moyles in particular over the coming months.
TalkSport radio grew its audience by 18.1% on the previous three months and 19.6% year on year to 2.96 million, which has supported commercial radio’s growth on the national stage against the BBC

For more details, check out the usual suspects today and tomorrow – brandrepublic.com, mediaGuardian and RadioToday – for comprehensive round-ups.

939 days ago Short URL Comments

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Oct

New men’s title confirmed – Gazetta

News is breaking of a new men’s magazine title to be piloted by Bauer Media. Titled Gazetta, the publisher is taking an interesting approach with the launch using the highly-successful women’s magazine, Grazia, plus in-store sampling to get it into the hands of 500,000+ 25-44 year old men.

More details here:

http://www.brandrepublic.com/news/1034893/bauer-plots-trial-gazetta-men/

952 days ago Short URL Comments

Magazines

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Sep

Grazia launches new TV series on the web

I note with interest the latest developments over at Grazia, the weekly fashion glossy, which has this weekend, launched into web TV. You can check out the first ‘webisode’ here:

http://www.graziadaily.co.uk/GraziaTV/archive/2010/09/17/it-s-the-very-first-episode-of-grazia-tv.htm

It appears the trend for media to create ever-richer content continues and Grazia’s launch into TV is perfectly timed during London Fashion Week.

The full info is here for all PRs interested in targeting the new TV opportunity:

Bauer Media’s ground-breaking fashion glossy Grazia has launched onto a brand new platform with Grazia TV. The five minute weekly ‘webisodes’, a media first, will feature a round up of the latest fashion, beauty, news and entertainment inspired by the ‘Ten Hot Stories ‘ section of the magazine, updated and adapted to showcase Grazia content on a TV platform.

Grazia TV was conceived by Bauer Media’s Creative Director of TV Julian Linley and the series will edited and written by Grazia’s Senior Editor Hattie Brett, in conjunction with Signal TV. It will be available on http://www.graziadaily.co.uk, http://www.YouTube.co.uk and other syndication channels every Friday from 17 September 2010. The 13-week series kicks off during London Fashion Week in September in partnership with Estee Lauder Companies using integrated brand content. Grazia’s Associate Media Director Lisa Tookey brokered the deal with M2M’s Tanwa Edu.

977 days ago Short URL Comments

Digital/Magazines

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Aug

RAJAR: Strong results for commercial radio

Some healthy listener figures coming through this am for the Bauer Radio Network:

-Magic 105.4 retains market leadership in London for a tenth consecutive quarter with a record reach of 2.054m listeners – the only commercial station to exceed the 2m listener barrier.
-Over 852k Londoners tune into Sony Gold Winner Neil Fox’s ‘More Music’ Breakfast show.
-Kiss 100 boasts its biggest ever figures for reach, audience and hours, including the highest-ever audience figures to date for Rickie & Melvin at Breakfast – up 34% on the year.
-Best Big City Network market share for over 2 years – with stand out performances from Clyde 1, Metro, Forth 1,97.4 Rock FM and Cool 97.4 FM.
-heat Radio and Smash Hits deliver record q on q figures, with heat rocketing 70% to deliver 2.1m hours and 35% to reach over 572k celebrity obsessed listeners.

Full results available at http://www.rajar.co.uk

1387 days ago Short URL Comments

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