Acquisitions, personnel shifts, and expansions start the summer off for magazine publishing companies
Legacy magazine publishing companies like Time Inc. digital are trying to get smaller, while smaller publishers like Lonely Planet and Vox are trying to get bigger. Let’s take a look at a few stories from the inimitable Keith J. Kelly‘s “Media Ink” column in the New York Post.
Time Inc. Focused on Niche Strategy …
Time Inc. has purchased sports and lifestyle blog FanSided, Kelly reports, its latest niche target. The acquisition is for about $10 million. The site competes with Bleacher Report, which Turner Sports paid an estimated $200 million for in 2012, and SB Nation, owned by Vox Media (see below).
and Digital Plan of Attack …
Meanwhile, Time Inc. kicked off its NewFronts unveiling 10 new shows, and a new film production company, SI Films, as it tries to hammer home to the advertising community that it is shifting from its old print-based past into a digital future, Kelly reports.
Last year, Senior VP of Video J.R. McCabe said, the company delivered over 1 billion video streams and now has four live shows.
Upcoming shows will include “Popography,” centering on celebrities and hosted by People and EW Editorial Director Jess Cagle. EW is also kicking off “The Bullseye,” hosted by EW Senior Writer Tim Stack.
Time Inc. also revealed a print-digital package called “A Year in Space,” tracking astronaut Scott Kelly, “Media Ink” reports.
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Vox, Upstart Among Digital Magazine Publishing Companies, Acquires Re/code
Kara Swisher and Walter Mossberg announced they are selling their Re/code operation to Vox Media.
Swisher and Mossberg had originally launched the All Things D site and conferences for Dow Jones – but struggled to reach a wider audience after they went out on their own, Kelly writes. Accoding to comScore, they were averaging just 1.5 million unique visitors monthly.
“We are thrilled to announce that Re/code’s parent company, Revere Digital, is being wholly acquired by the highly respected digital-native media company Vox Media,” Swisher and Mossberg said on their website.
Lonely Planet Expands
Australian-founded Lonely Planet is popular in the U.S., but now it will be a magazine stateside, as well, Kelly reports.
“The U.S. title will be an owned-and-operated entity based in Franklin, Tenn., just outside Nashville, where its guidebook editors covering North and South America are based. It is currently owned by NC2 Media, headed by billionaire rancher and one-time tobacco titan Brad Kelley, who is now ranked as the fourth-largest landowner in the US,” Kelly writes. “The quarterly publication will hit Sept. 2 with a guaranteed circulation or 450,000. Lauren Finney, most recently a senior editor at Niche Media, where she worked on the launch of Austin Way Magazine, will be the editor. The company is adding a half dozen editorial staffers and will use the ad sales staff that is already selling its digital properties.”
What news do you have to report on magazine publishing companies? Let us know in the comments!
To read more about magazine publishing companies, visit Keith J. Kelly’s Media Ink in the New York Post.
