Magazine Wars

Several articles this week on how Time magazine and other publications are fairing. Comparing ad pages from 2005 to 2006:

  • Time Inc.: Down 4.8%
  • Hearst Corporation: Down 0.7%
  • Hachette Filipacchi: Down 7.1%
  • Meredith Corporation: Down 1.4%

Specifics for various titles from these companies can be found at MediaDailyNews.

The New York Times looks at Time’s situation in particular:

“Despite its journalistic legacy and its position as the largest magazine publisher in the country, Time Inc., with annual revenues around $5 billion, is now the baby in the Time Warner family, which has annual revenues of more than $42 billion.”

The article compares changes in the editorial process within a magazine like People, where a recent 5 paragraph article on Britney Spears was “reported and written by seven people.”

“The new model, which is standard at most news organizations, will be for one person to report, write and fact-check the article.”

Larry Hackett, managing editor of People says:

“…the changes would result in better journalism. Reporters are eager to craft their own articles and writers eager to do the original reporting on theirs, he said. More important, if one person is in control of the information, he or she can move it faster to the Web.”

Mathew Flamm reports on the battle between Time and Newsweek, and how their strategies align and differ.

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