AccuList’s business periodical clients will face challenges and opportunities in the fast-moving currents of publishing in 2020. The good news for printed magazines: Print is not only viable but thriving in many cases, with 64% of printing industry members telling Quocirca’s Global Print 2025 study that print will remain important well into 2025. At the same time, surveys show that digital subscriptions, advertising and content are increasingly necessary drivers of the bottom line.

Publishers Invest More in Digital and Content Marketing

In fact, worldwide news publishers surveyed now say digital publishing subscriptions are their top revenue stream. Given mobile and social audience trends, publishers also say they are increasing efforts to recreate quick-loading content for any device and are using more digital content, including videos and podcasts, to drive audience development–and that includes distribution via social media networks. At the start of the year, a What’s New in Publishing post by magazine consultant Mary Hogarth suggested that the best way to navigate the challenges of digital expansion, content innovation and multi-channel audience-building is to develop a solid business model. Periodicals need a model that will  keep cash flow strong to fund reinvention, she notes, citing cash drivers such as subscription sales, pre-paid ads and advertising space series, timely payment systems and expenditure discipline. However, it’s even more important for a magazine model to focus on expanding revenue streams across print and digital channels. 

A Smart Business Model Will Expand Revenue Streams

Of course, these revenue growth efforts are where AccuList’s targeted lists and direct marketing services can be of greatest use in adding subscribers, advertisers, members or event attendees. Among Hogarth’s suggestions for boosting revenue streams:

• Brand extensions, such as digital editions, sister publications, books, events, conferences, courses and festivals;
• Advertising sales strategy innovations, for example selling online plus print advertising as one package;
• Expanding sponsorships/promotions and services by facilitating strategic partnerships or third-party sponsorship of in-house events, plus selling design and content packaging services;
• Increased copy sales via digital/print magazines on newsstands, subscription growth, in-house back issue sales, and direct sales to partners/advertisers if appropriate;
• Memberships schemes that can help cash-flow and likely increase audience reach and reader loyalty;
• Online content/paywalls, such as using a micro-payment system to sell additional content;
• Product licensing, such as selling the rights to content to be re-purposed in an existing title, or licensing the brand in terms of merchandising.

See the complete article on magazine business models for more detail.