Print Magazines Still Holding Their Own
According to a recent report released from the Rosen Group, even though 65 per cent of Americans dash to the Internet to get breaking news, they still want to reference tangible magazines for fueling their entertainment needs.
One of the research findings from the Rosen Group report that resonated the most with us was that 80 per cent of the survey respondents said that they subscribed to magazines. You would never hear such paralleled results when asking about newspaper subscriptions. Needless to say, the Rosen Group report does open up other avenues for newspaper publishers. Should all newspapers be looking to spin off their key verticals to standalone print magazines? Keeping in mind the need to make the content entertaining, with informative articles and in turn following the recipe that most magazines have seen success with for years. This means that this informative and entertaining niche magazine is probably not the spot where you would place 40 pages of classifieds, but maybe 8 to 12 pages at the back of the publication would do. Aside from key verticals, profile your customers or demographics in your region. No one should know them better than their local newspaper. Could a niche magazine be spun off to segments of your community or communities?
Regardless of the endless possibilities for niche magazines out of a local newspaper house, the Media Post coverage of the Rosen Group Study and the recent closing of the Rocky Mountain News, sums it up best and yells the message that maybe this really is what local newspapers should be focused on.
