In the age of Donald Trump, ignore women’s magazines at your peril
NEW YORK No one can predict with certainty the direction of women’s magazines, which have struggled to maintain print circulation as newsstand sales continue to fall. But if you’re placing bets on a strategy that might help them flourish, look no further than Samantha Barry, the 36-year-old woman who is reinventing Condé Nast’s legacy title, Glamour.
An Irish-born millennial with hard-news experience via BBC and CNN, she’s using her digital expertise to drag the title into the 21st century. Part of her plan is political. She’s seizing the moment to remind female readers that the big glossies have always been the best source of reporting on topics critical to women.
With Donald Trump in the White House, Republicans in control of Congress and a potential abortion outlawing majority coming to the U.S. Supreme Court, magazines that were once understated about politics have decided to take a stand. Editors at top women’s titles such as Cosmopolitan and Marie Claire are ramping up coverage of sexual harassment, reproductive rights and identity politics. As younger American women use digital platforms to mobilize politically, these editors know they’ll have to meet readers where they’re most engaged. There’s a lot of money to be made there, too.
“The general public doesn’t understand the appetite women in America have today for all things politics, digitally,” Barry said. “I could not have picked a better year to come and work at Glamour — to talk to and with women.”
And she’s not alone. “At a time when our world is so politically active, it’s only right that we should be as engaged and as vocal as our readers,” said Vogue Editor-in-Chief Anna Wintour. “I’ve always believed Vogue — indeed, all Condé Nast titles — should really stand for something, and right now that’s more important than ever.”
Since the 2016 election, Americans have shown an increased interest in politics and demand for news. When it comes to women, that thirst has proven unquenchable. Women of either political party are more likely than men to say they’re paying more attention to politics, according to a 2017 Pew Research Center survey. That’s almost 60 per cent of women, compared with 46 per cent of men.
Political involvement is up among women, too — particularly among those who are young and collegeeducated. Almost one in three women aged 18 to 49 have attended a political event or protest since the election, the Pew report shows. And a record number of women, 516, are running for seats in Congress.
Glamour, Cosmopolitan and Marie Claire are looking to capitalize on this new landscape. They’ve all made political news coverage a priority. Some are hiring reporters with experience in political journalism and promoting their content on digital platforms. While cosmetics, celebrities and lighter fare remain prominent, these magazines have staked a claim in hard news.
“We can’t be everything to everybody when it comes to political coverage,” Barry said. “The two things we want to feature this year in our storytelling are how women are voting and how they’re running for office.”
Cosmopolitan has published features looking to educate women on how to run for office and started a “#VoteTwice” campaign encouraging them to vote in both the primaries and midterms. “Our ambition is to spur action, whether that’s running for office, registering to vote or going to the polls during the midterm elections,” said Editor-in-Chief Michele Promaulayko.
“Women are leading the resistance,” said Stephanie Schriock, the president of Emily ’s List. “And women’s magazines have been invaluable assets in covering that story.”
The pivot toward more aggressive political coverage is also an existential imperative. Last fall, the top editors of Glamour and Elle (as well as those at Vanity Fair and Time) announced they were stepping down in the span of two weeks. Condé Nast subsequently cut dozens of jobs and decided to publish one fewer issue a year of Glamour, GQ, Allure and Architec- tural Digest. It shuttered the print edition of Teen Vogue — the title whose sudden, unexpected political relevance established the template for what was to come. Meanwhile, Cosmopolitan’s parent, New Yorkbased Hearst Corp., cut 130 jobs in January after acquiring Rodale Inc.
Magazine print-advertising sales in the U.S. are expected to fall a further 14.5 per cent this year; the rate of decline is expected to exceed 20 per cent by 2020, according to Bloomberg Intelligence, citing advertising-insights firm Magna Global. The U.S. magazine market, made up of consumer and trade magazines, will bring in US$28.9 billion by 2022, down from US$30.2 billion in 2017, according to a recent Price water house Coopers forecast.
Still, as print sales continue to decline, digital traffic for glossies is going up. Overall, U.S. magazine publishers are estimated to grow digital circulation revenue by 3.6 per cent by 2022, increasing it from US$1.1 billion to US$1.3 billion, according to PwC. The gain will push total consumer magazine revenue back into growth for a short period, but that’s not likely to last past 2020, when the decline in total consumer magazine circulation revenue is expected to resume. Promaulayko and Barry said the rise of digital is, in part, due to the success of their online political content.
With a print circulation of 14.9 million, Cosmopolitan is the bestselling young women’s magazine. Online, the brand drew an all-time high of 26 million unique visitors in May, and its political content has reached more than 3 million readers on the website this year. Glamour, which has a print circulation of 8.7 million, has raked in more than 11 million unique monthly visitors and five per cent month-over-month growth in total engaged minutes. The brand’s social platforms, which together total more than 15 million unique followers, have experienced similar growth this year.
Women are leading the resistance. And women’s magazines have been invaluable assets in covering that story.