How struggling magazines are fighting back with 'bookazines'

Even before the pandemic, many magazine titles were under stress as revenue and sales dwindled. But publishers are finding an opportunity to grow revenue with an old idea – the “special issue”.

Longer than a magazine – often running to over 100 pages – and focused on a single topic, the new version of the special issue is the so-called “bookazine”, which can use archive material as well as bespoke content, and can be quick to produce in response to new trends or news events, CNN finds.

What it means 

The new product represents a fightback by the magazine industry as it struggles to compete for advertising dollars with ever more powerful online platforms like Facebook and Google. 

• Unlike traditional magazines, bookazines don’t depend on ad revenue – relying instead on a higher cover price.
• While bookazines may sell for three or more times the cost of a magazine, publishers can make profits on far fewer sales by combining the higher price point with much lower production costs.
• Media brands beyond magazine specialists are now also eyeing the bookazine opportunity – The Los Angeles Times produced two last year – in conjunction with Meredith Magazines. It’s now planning six a year.

Bottom line

“Really this is an expensive product that they're [readers buying bookazines] very passionate about. There's a lot of talk about digital paywalls, but this is the original content paywall." Doug Olson, president and general manager of Meredith Magazines.

Sourced from CNN