Comments

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  Hal Peat December 2, 2012 at 10:10pm

  Ed, back to the post-mortem on CT+L - I think another contributing factor to its demise may have been the way special interest and niche travel interests and markets have developed since the recession.  Now take a region such as the Caribbea -- which CT+L was able to cover well for years before the advent even of the net -- and how that region itself has seen a drop in the so-called mass consumer middle class traveler as a marketing identity while at the same time those special interest travel categories have grown, and you have kind of a perfect storm for a magazine concept like CT+L. to navigate.  Now sure, they could respond by having a very editorially diverse calendar - "the diving issue", "the food & beverage issue", "the shopping issue", "the adventure & trekking issue", and try to cover every base that way.  But meanwhile, other newer publishers have seen the opportunity in taking a dedicated focus - thus, wedding & honeymoon, or music & culture, or any of the aforementioned as their sole and primary content base year round.  Along with that, I think many travelers already had traveled to the region, and were part of the consumer base that was either staying at home or only going again because the destination and objective was tied to one of those special interests - and they found alternative media to get them re-engaged and up-to-speed better than a CT+L could manage. 
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  Allan Lynch December 2, 2012 at 9:50pm

  Er, Ed, Tony - the reasoning doesn't make sense. It may be best from Tony's perspective, but not from a publisher's.

  Here's why. As a publisher how do I know the advertiser isn't flogging bad product? It could be out of season, out of fashion, past it's best before date, not competitive with others, have been negatively reviewed/received, etc. You may have bad customer relations and poor sales and service follow through.

  The advertiser could also be on a tricky financial footing. As a publisher how do we know that you have the means to pay for these clicks/sales commissions? How do we know you will pay in a timely manner? How does the publisher know the actual sales? Clients don't want to open their books to a third party. It's also a cost to monitor and a delay in cash flow.

  These are all reasons why a publisher isn't going to adopt this model.

  What is it that the publisher provides? The publisher's job is to deliver a readership. The publisher, via their expertise in producing an editorial product - whether a broad-based news source or targeted consumer segment - which is an attractive way to marry like-minded consumers to like-minded companies.

  The reason many titles have gone out of business is because they were run by non-print people, and were usually loaded up with junk debt just before the economy crashed. In Canada, newspaper and magazine circulation dipped, on average, between 1-3%, which is little more than a few households belt-tightening. Some specialist titles took a deeper hit, but I'm seeing recovery.

  Interesting, book sales have risen steadily the last three years. Then look at The Economist. Readership is waaaaay up. Revenue is up around 30% and profit up almost that again. That's from print.

  I'm not saying print doesn't have to change, but we've been hearing about its death for several hundred years. The end-of-print talk revived when radio was invented, and the telegraph, and film and television...

  Last summer I spent a week on the Gold Floor of the Fairmont Banff Springs Hotel. I didn't see a person there or in our private breakfast and cocktail room who looked like they followed anyone on Twitter. As I roamed the resort, whether in the spa, the bars, the golf course, there just wasn't a twittering crowd. It boils down to who your customer is and what your product/service is. And then there are some external factors, like the crap US economy, thrown in for the short term.
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  Geri Bain December 2, 2012 at 9:36pm

  Tony, how often do you buy the first time you see a product? Your plan doesn't seem to fairly compensate the publications and websites that help build awareness for your product all those times someone sees your product, and maybe even clicks or sends for more info, but isn't yet ready to buy. 
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  Ed Wetschler December 2, 2012 at 9:04pm

  Yup, Tony, they'll fight you to the mat on this one, but your reasoning makes sense. Yes to you, too, Hal: Maybe counting rosary beads is not the appropriate response. 
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  Tony Humphrey December 2, 2012 at 8:27pm

  Perhaps if advertisers were able to advertise with a different arrangement.

  Over the years, in various business endeavours, I have paid 'lots of dosh' to advertise in national and regional newspapers and magazines plus bill-boards, radio and TV... at no time did I feel I was getting a good or even fair deal to increase my biz....but it was the only way to go....or so it seemed...

  I am constantly being approached to buy advertising, PR, click fees etc....by print media and online SEO and SEM agencies.

  I reject the offers but counter with a more logical and IMO, more reasonable suggestion....

  I will advertise or use your PR and SEO and pay you a fee on each successful sale....not click throughs or visits....ON SALES!

  Often the response is..."we do not do business that way"...maybe that is why many are going out of biz.

  Advertising and SEO professionals either do not have confidence in the quality of their services or targeted consumers or they do not have confidence in my product being able to produce 'sales'.....but they would have taken my dosh for 'old-style' advertising...

  Any media business using a 'Pay for Performance' method of a fee or commission per sale may just stay in business and prosper.
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  Hal Peat December 2, 2012 at 1:34am

  Ed, I'd add that in the context of some of that time period, some of those acquisitions might have seemed the logical business development.  But so many people both in personal and professional decisions had their eyes still sealed to the bigger picture even well into 2006 when many of the signs of the recession were in place.  It is easier to launch and acquire than it is to either salvage or divest in the print publishing realm, I'd guess. Never had to do it myself, just had to suffer as a writer the consequences and fallout of "big dreamers" who went on thinking that all you needed to launch a print mag was two Macs and two interns and two credit cards.

  Rosary beads?  While I'm sad at the passing of some magazines, I reserve the rosary beads strictly for flights on....oh well, certain carriers on my beat whose inflight magazines I still have to write for.  So I'll only tell on that when they're history too:)
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  Allan Lynch December 2, 2012 at 12:55am

  The irony of the internet is that while it may deliver larger numbers of eyeballs, advertisers won't pay print rates for equal or greater exposure. And most cyber pubs pay less than print. I wonder if advertisers are making a statement with their chequebooks: cyber costs less, you pay less for content (if anything), so we're only paying a fraction of the cost per thousand of print? 
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  Ed Wetschler December 2, 2012 at 12:49am

  Hal, you're exactly right on both those issues -- the overly aggressive acquisitions and (of course) the internet. Too bad. 

  I wonder if anyone else here, like Hal, was getting the rosary beads ready.
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  Hal Peat December 1, 2012 at 10:15pm

  Ed, just learned of that in twitter yesterday.  Yes I saw it coming, because Bonnier acquired too many independent titles in the years just before the recession and the move into online, now they are reaping the fallout.  Empires crumble.  But they still have many other viable titles.
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  Ed Wetschler December 1, 2012 at 8:26pm

  I just learned that Caribbean Travel & Life will fold next year, merging into Islands Magazine. I didn't see this coming; did you?