A top magazine circulator urged his colleagues yesterday to stop reacting to events and take control of their own destiny.
There is no question that they have to do something, said John Q. Griffin, president of the National Geographic Society’s magazine group, speaking at the Direct Marketing Association’s Circulation Day. Magazines have been hit by plummeting newsstand sales, a drying up of sources, tough new regulatory measures and other problems.
“We too have been bitten,” he said.
Griffin cited some figures to make his point. In 2002, TV Guide sold 265 million fewer single copies than it did in 1992. The top four newsstand titles sold 273 million copies in 2002. “They lost more units than are now sold,” he said.
Meanwhile, circulation’s share of the average magazine’s expense budget fell from 34% to 29% in the eight years between 1994 and 2002. Editorial’s share held steady at 10%, and advertising’s at 9%.
Griffin’s conclusion? Publishers “built profits on the back of reduced investment in circulation,” he said. “Shame on us.”
Equally dismaying to Griffin is the perception arising out of the Gruner & Jahr scandal that circulators are cooking their audit statements.
“Do all magazines cheat on their pink sheets?” he asked. “The answer is no.”
A study of 500 pink sheets by the Magazine Publishers of America showed that the numbers submitted to the audit bureaus were 1.62% lower than the final audit numbers. “They were actually understated,” Griffin said.
In addition, Griffin did an informal survey of 13 publications. The numbers were overstated by a mere 1.6%, or 125,000 copies out of a total distribution of 7.6 million.
“The audits work,” he said. “There’s no pattern of cheating. We’ve got to change the discussion.”
So what should circulators do about the “perfect storm” facing them, as consultant Dan Capell has put it? Griffin had some suggestions.
For one thing, circulation must become an equal partner with editorial and advertising.Publishers should not be allowed to reject low numbers.
In addition, circulators must focus on selling. “It’s not a job of analysis, but action,” Griffin said.
He also exhorted circulators to “bring back creativity. ‘Save 80%’ is not a reason to buy,” he noted. And he demanded that they act quickly. You don’t have time to do two-year test cycles,” he said. “Do it now.”
Also featured during the luncheon session was the induction of Peter Armour, senior vice president, consumer marketing for Advance Magazine Group, into the Circulation Hall of Fame. Armour, a 25-year veteran of Conde Nast, was as outspoken as Griffin. He called on circulators to “battle back together to correct the misconceptions about our business practices. The practice of one publisher does not represent the practices of the whole industry.”
Although not by name, Armour also commented on the case of Diane Potter, who left her post as head of circulation at Gruner & Jahr in the wake of the Rosie scandal. She was a scapegoat for a decision that was almost certainly forced on her, and she will be vindicated, Armour said.
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