By Darren Gilbert

More specifically, Lowe spoke on the topic of sanity and happiness through the lens of consumer magazines. In fact, he offered a framework.

“It starts with the premise of why; why are we doing battle and what are our reasons for existence as human beings,” said Lowe. This is, of course, filtered through the lens of the challenges that face print media purveyors. And it is to know your truth.

The curse with your truth is that as much as you think you know what your truth is, by definition, it is surrounded by two very nasty things: ignorance and denial. “It is particularly pronounced in the media industry and in the print media industry where we are just so busy doing battle.” And everyone is involved. You are either producing media or you are buying media.

Any way you look at the data, you will see something that resembles, over time, an annual decline of -6%. The industry is in decline. Circulation is down, as is ad sales revenue, while profitability is poor. Shareholders have no confidence, which has a negative effect not only on the skillsets available but also the quality that is produced.

It’s not all bad news, though. “The industry is substantially big and has many beautiful aspects to it,” said Lowe. “Magazines have the unique attribute that cannot be emulated by any other media type.” Brands will continue to pay premiums for premium audiences. You thus need to have the confidence to sell your product without putting a dodgy pair of sunglasses on it.

The aim is quality over quantity, points out Lowe. But you have to go back to your truth. “What is your industry truth? What is your title’s truth? But most crucially, what is your audience truth? Stick to the process, know your readers and your rival readers and focus on quality and not quantity.”
Turning to the latest ABC print figures, Beiles pointed out the fact that there has been a 2.3% decline in press circulation with losses across the board. Unfortunately, magazines are on a steady decline in circulation. Overall circulation is down by 8%, pointed out Beiles, with all three sectors dropping.

On the newspaper side, weekly papers have seen an 8.2% decline, all in single copy sales. Meanwhile, weekend papers have seen a 3.1% decline. “Even though single copy sales have declined, it is encouraging to note that subscriptions have actually increased,” said Beiles. When it comes to movers in the daily press, the Cape Times has increased by 2.7% while The Times, Herald and Isoleswe have dropped.

On the positive side, the Mail & Guardian increased by a credible 10%. This was in contrast to Soccer Laduma, which has usually been strong, dropping by 11.5%.

“The current economy will see production costs increase, which will mean that uneconomical circulation will be reduced further,” said Beiles. On a positive note, innovative research has shown the real contribution of print to advertising campaigns. “Within the ABC data, there is proof of publishing innovation in all areas and many of these initiatives have produced positive results,” said Beiles.

For more information, visit www.abc.org.za.