MAP’s greatest resource is its members, those men and women whose daily work in the publishing field has built up years of combined practical experience. In each issue of this newsletter, Mapmakers will delve into the knowledge and experience of those members to address the challenges that publications face in the industry today.

by John Tienjaroonkul

Over the past few years the magazine industry has experienced enormous changes in the market, but none so dramatic as the tendency for the average person to receive a majority of his or her information and news from online media rather than from a print format.

Tony Silber, editor and publisher of FOLIO: the Magazine for Magazine Management and of Circulation Management magazine and MAP’s 2nd Annual Publishing Summit’s keynote speaker, explained what he sees as the six trends that will transform a business to help compensate for the changes in the market.  Silber described the change and gave advice on how to make sure a business is prepared for the ever-changing market.

Like every business, the magazine business starts with the consumer.  Silber began his six trends, focusing on consumers and the fact that they are moving away from print and toward the Internet.

“Seventy-four percent of the population gets its news from the Internet,” Silber said, “more than from magazines or newspapers.”

In today’s fast-paced, cutthroat market, the advertisers go where the consumers are, which Silber identified as the second trend.  He created a chart demonstrating how advertising on the Internet has increased within the past few years.  In fact, TNS Media Intelligence has data that shows how advertising on the Internet has surpassed advertising in business-to-business magazines over the past five years.

Advertising on the Internet has increased significantly even within the past year.  Looking back at 2005, the Internet is projected to have the largest increase of all mediums for this year with 9 percent.  The only thing remotely close is the projected 8.4 percent increase for cable, which has been the leader in advertising over the past few years.

The third trend, and one safe area, is local and community magazines.  These magazines are targeted to an audience that is very exclusive, and there aren’t many competitors in that field.

In trend number four, Silber discussed how magazines are opening up to the Web.  This is especially true for business-to-business publications because as they move toward the Internet, their revenue seemingly increased.

As most publishers know, circulation of a magazine is an important part of the industry.  Silber noted as his fifth trend that circulation should be the central concern of a publication.

The last trend Silber identified was postal rates and reform. Future postal rates will be tied to inflation. This should eliminate huge increases, but rates probably will increase every year, with a mid-single-digit increase expected for 2007. Silber also touched on process changes, including co-palletization, sack minimum increases and new USPS sorting equipment that could impact publishers.

All of this is just another reason why online publications are becoming more appealing.