How can fashion magazines stay profitable in the digital age?
Let’s quickly rewind to the very beginning of this year. That’s when Anna Wintour, the editor-in-chief of the prestigious Vogue, hosted an “intimate” breakfast for 50 celebrities as part of Vogue100, to discuss the upcoming publication of the magazine’s February issue. Now, it all sounds rather posh and glamorous, but what’s in it for Ms. Wintour? As one of the most influential magazine editors out there, she definitely has better things to do.
Well, the issue is — Condé Nast, Vogue’s owner, has been struggling financially over the past years. With the rise of online magazines and magazine start-ups, Condé Nast were hit with a £14m annual loss in 2018 (Sweney, 2019), and had to cease publishing print versions of well-known magazines, such as Glamour and Self (Kassel, 2019). What’s more, Vogue and Glamour’s readership declined by 5% and 11%, respectively (Jordan, 2018). In the light of this, how does Ms. Wintour try to keep Vogue profitable?
This is where the Vogue100 comes into play. The elite breakfast allows for capitalizing on the magazine’s brand through a $100,000 membership fee (per year!). And seeing as Vogue itself accounts for 28% of Condé’s global revenue (Wiedeman, 2019), I bet it's rather important that the magazine keeps bringing in the big bucks. But how can fashion magazines still make money in today’s digital world without capitalizing on the long-standing brand prestige, like Vogue? Can new fashion magazines stay profitable, too?
Consumers’ voice matters
As consumer behavior is changing (Carey, 2017) and brands no longer hold the power, businesses have to rethink how value creation happens. “Consumers are beginning […] to own our brands and participate in their creation” (Mainwaring, 2011; Darmody, 2009). Indeed, consumers no longer rely on fashion magazines to know what’s trendy — social media and influencers do it for them.
In fact, content from fashion influencers is almost like recommendations from a friend, especially for millennials, who don’t trust traditional forms of advertising, which are “over-planned and misleading” (Wilberg, 2018). Magazines have to learn how to cooperate with the consumers, as nowadays, they’re not just the end consumers, but rather a means to curate the best possible content which sells and positively impacts the revenue.
That’s why, even luxury brands like Vogue, have to learn how to incorporate digital marketing on platforms such as Instagram into their repertoire, despite the fear of it “cheapening their image”.
Expertise is key
What's more, “in today’s media landscape it’s important to be a publisher of expert content” (Burrell, 2019). In the age of the Internet and social media, anyone can be a fashion content publisher. So, if you’re not an expert in your field, no one’s going to trust your magazine enough to pay money for it, when so much information is readily available online for free. So, how can new fashion magazines gain readership and capitalize on their content?
Well, according to one of the co-founders of WTVOX, an online sustainable fashion magazine, paying attention to segmentation in society is key (Amiriara, 2019). By targeting different groups in society, fashion magazines can establish themselves as a “symbol” or an authority to these groups, thus become relevant and monetize on their content. This is illustrated in the case of Vogue which had to establish a new sub-magazine — Vogue Business — in order to cater to groups other than ‘Baby Boomers’.
Perhaps the “secret recipe” to staying profitable in the digital world, is to not limit the magazine — be well-known for one thing, like fashion and beauty, but explore other topics, like Vogue did. Maybe the key is to just evolve collectively with our state-of-the-art society.
Word count: 600 words
References:
Amiriara, R. (2019) ‘How can fashion magazines stay profitable in the digital age?’. Interview with Rueen Amiriara. Interview by Kinga Wioletta Rusin for Publishing in The Digital Age, 21 November.
Burrell, I. (2019) Future’s £140m deal for TI Media could transform the magazine industry — but progress won’t be simple. Available at: https://inews.co.uk/opinion/columnists/futures-140m-deal-for-ti-media-could-transform-the-magazine-industry-but-progress-wont-be-simple-825385 (Accessed: 22.11.2019)
Carey, J. (2017) The magazine market isn’t dead, it’s different. Available at: https://www.journalism.co.uk/news-commentary/the-magazine-market-isn-t-dead-it-s-different/s6/a698229/ (Accessed: 22.11.2019)
Darmody, A. (2009) Value Co-Creation and Marketing. Available at: https://timreview.ca/article/302 (Accessed: 22.11.2019)
Jordan, J. (2019) According to a New Report, Last Year Was a Very Bad Year for Print Magazines. Available at: https://www.thefashionspot.com/runway-news/799011-print-magazines-in-decline/ (Accessed: 22.11.2019)
Kassel, M. (2019) Here’s What Magazines Lose When They Go Digital Only. https://www.mediaite.com/print/heres-what-magazines-lose-when-they-go-digital-only/ (Accessed: 22.11.2019)
Mainwaring, S. (2011) 'The New Power of Consumers to Influence Brands', Forbes, 7 September. Available at: https://www.forbes.com/sites/simonmainwaring/2011/09/07/the-new-power-of-consumers-to-influence-brands/#5742aa483b3c (Accessed: 22.11.2019)
Sweeney, M. (2019) 'Vogue publisher Condé Nast reports annual loss of £14m', The Guardian, 3 January. Available at: https://www.theguardian.com/media/2019/jan/03/vogue-publisher-conde-nast-annual-loss (Accessed: 22.11.2019)
Wiedeman, R. (2019) What’s Left of Condé Nast — Two years after Si Newhouse died (and Graydon Carter left), Anna Wintour and a new CEO map out the future they can afford. Available at: http://nymag.com/intelligencer/2019/10/conde-nast-anna-wintour-roger-lynch.html (Accessed: 22.11.2019)
Wilber, A. (2019) How Social Media and its Influencers are Driving Fashion. Available at: https://digitalmarketingmagazine.co.uk/social-media-marketing/how-social-media-and-its-influencers-are-driving-fashion/4871 (Accessed: 22.11.2019)
