In the news: How magazine brands are shooting themselves in the foot by chasing the successes of TV.

Magazines have experienced "TV envy" since the early 2000s, says Steve Smith of Foliomag.com. Now that "the platform silos have been dismantled ... magazines have found themselves in direct competition for ad dollars with every other media, many of which enjoy superior reach, a daily cadence and, in the case of TV, reusable and excess video assets that mapped perfectly with our broadband future." Tapping into a Charlie Brown/football analogy, he discusses where magazines have gone wrong with their video content strategies.

Smith has blunt advice for magazines plastering the internet with video content few actually watch: "Magazines also need to wake up and get out of their own damn channels. I'm sorry, but no one is going to tune into 90% of these brands. Magazines need to stop loving their own print legacy and build brands in new way." Read his thoughts on how magazines can successfully navigate the cross-platform marketplace here.

Also Notable

Publishers Delaying Video Content Until Holidays

Hoping to maximize revenue during the holiday season, many publishers are holding their video content until December, reports Tim Peterson of Digiday.com. Ad spending is typically higher in the fourth quarter, so it's a lucrative time for publishers to push new content. But timing isn't the only factor to consider-quality matters too. Peterson writes, "With platforms like YouTube taking videos' production quality into account when deciding which channels to include in its upfront ad buying program Google Preferred, publishers are trying to strike a balance between investing in improving the production quality of their shows and ensuring they will be able to make back that money and turn a profit." Read more here.

Magazine Audience Growth Year-Over-Year

Last week the MPA released its year-over-year audience growth numbers for June 2019. "The growth of magazine media audiences is accelerating, while declines are slowing," says Sara Guaglione of MediaPost.com. "One-third of the magazine media brands included in MPA's report had audience increases of 10% or greater in June 2019 year-over-year. Of this group, more than half had increases in print, as well as online audiences." Read more here.

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