Is the magazine industry dying? Some thoughts.

Posted on June 3, 2019 by Ralph Hanson
  • Meredith sells Sports Illustrated intellectual property to Authentic Brands Group
    Sports Illustrated on news stand

    Jeenah Moon for The New York Times

    When Meredith Corp. bought out Time Inc. a year ago, the speculation was that the Better Homes & Gardens publisher would sell off all of the newsy magazines and just keep the lifestyle titles. Technically, Meredith will still be publishing SI. they’ve just sold off the rights to all of the magazine’s 65-years of covers, photos, swimsuit issues and the like.  The publisher will then license back the rights to publish the magazine itself. ABG manages the intellectual property related to a range of athletes and other stars (Michael Jackson, Marilyn Monroe,  Muhammad Ali, and Shaquille O’Neal) along with several brands including Frederick’s of Hollywood, Aéropostale and Juicy Couture.

  • 100-year-old Motorcyclist magazine goes digital only
    Earlier this week, parent company Bonnier announced that it was ceasing paper publication of the long-running Motorcyclist magazine. For many years, Motorcyclist was one of the most respected of the consumer motorcycle magazines, competing primarily with Cycle World. But in 2013, Bonnier – which also publishes Cycle World, bought out Motorcyclist.  And that was likely the beginning of the end. Motorcyclist will reportedly continue on in digital form, but how much original content will be there, is a a matter of some debate.  As a long-time motorcycle enthusiast, I at one point subscribed to four different magazines on the topic.  Now I’m down to just Rider, which focuses on older, touring riders.
This entry was posted in Chapter 5 and tagged , , . Bookmark the permalink.