Channel hoppers

While magazines were once just a regular dose of escapism, entertainment or inspiration in printed form, the rise of the internet and the need for new sources of revenue has meant publishers are connecting with their audiences in a range of different ways

BACK IN 2010, when Playboy editorin-chief Hugh Hefner was questioned about the impact of the internet on print, he didn’t show too much concern and instead shared a belief that magazines would stand strong because they were the most personal form of journalism – or as he called them “old friends”.

Hefner probably should have been slightly more concerned about the rise of the internet because in late 2015, as a result of all the freely available ‘entertainment’ online, it decided to remove the famous centrefolds from its pages and reinvented itself as a premium mainstream men’s title (now people could legitimately say they only read it for the articles). While it might seem like a strange example to use given what many would call its objectionable editorial focus and its recent cashflow problems, it is a media brand that has harnessed its influence and expanded into new areas, to the point where, in 2010, around half of its $215 million in revenue came from licensing consumer products.

And the MPA is trying to show the same is true of many of our local magazine brands: they are not just old trees. They are multi-faceted brands that engage audiences in a variety of different ways, across a variety of different channels, something the new Magazine 360 Metric hopes to cement.

Alongside traditional measures like circulation and readership, the Magazine 360 Metric will place greater emphasis on digital performance and events. The categories include: average issue readership, average net circulation, digital edition, monthly unique website browsers (New Zealand), average monthly email newsletter reach, Facebook reach (within New Zealand), monthly Youtube views, brand extension one shot (rolling 12 months) and brand extension events (rolling 12 months), as well as Instagram, Twitter, Pinterest, Snapchat and Linkedin followers.

A similar 360 metric system was launched in America in 2014, and the president and chief executive of MPA (the Association of Magazine Media) at the time, Mary Berner, told The New York Times that without it, publishers ignore a huge fraction of the audience.

“Given the success of many magazine brands on those new platforms, continuing to rely on print circulation and ad paging to determine demand for magazine media would be like measuring the viewership of the Super Bowl exclusively based on the people who

Marking the move to consider the wide range of touchpoints magazine brands now have at their disposal, a new category was added to the list at the MPA Awards called Best Magazine 360 Brand Audience. Your Home and Garden took the inaugural title, with the judges commending it for “strong clarity of its various range of business assets”, and an entry that demonstrated impressive commercial outcomes.

Included in those assets is the publication’s social media presence on Facebook and Instagram, which, over the past three years, has built up an audience of equal importance to its readership of 272,000 and circulation of 36,175 (Sources: Google Analytics and Nielsen CMI Jul 15 – Jun 16).

Alongside social media, Bauer’s Homes to Love website received 60,000 unique visitors in November 2016, racking up 300,000 page views.

With the housing boom and the growing homewares market, it’s not surprising the magazine has had such a big uptake on its online platforms. Editorin-chief Shelley Ferguson (who took home the award for Supreme Editor of the Year last year) recalls her parents, who had the same house with the same furniture for decades, saying now that “interiors are like fashion – people want their homes to be an expression of who they are, and as their style evolves, so do their homes”.

And because Your Home and Garden’s content is at the forefront of these trends, its audience is highly engaged and eager to scroll through the online photo galleries and watch its video content.

Those visiting on Facebook are also likely to click into the website and view three pages on average, which is a “healthy sign of engagement and relevance”.