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Each year at the American Magazine Media Conference, the last panel of the event is typically a conversation among the CEOs of the publishing industry’s goliaths.
Speakers on the panel included:
- Rich Battista, President & CEO, Time Inc.
- David Carey, President, Hearst Magazines
- Stephen M. Lacy, Chairman & CEO, Meredith Corporation
- Maria Rodale, Chairman & CEO, Rodale Inc.
- Robert A. Sauerberg Jr., President & CEO Condé Nast
- Linda Thomas Brooks, President & CEO, MPA
The State of Magazine Media
Carey: The cooperation in the industry has increased as bigger competition has emerged (hint: Google, Facebook), which is a promising evolution.
Rodale: Moving Prevention to an ad-free model was the right thing to do, but no plans to do the same with other pubs.
Carey: There is a lot of respect for the print magazine form. We see a 60% renewal after initial subscribe, which is a very high consumer renewal rate. We get higher CPMs for print-first pubs versus digital-first pubs. However, we don’t think we’ll be able to gate our digital content and charge for it.
Lacey: Meredith sold $2 million in Home & Garden products every year. That makes us a little less dependent on advertising.
Carey: Partnerships are a big part of Hearst’s business. (The Airbnb print magazine for one.) More than half Hearst’s revenues come from shared revenues.