Steve Smith's Eye on Digital Media (May 2014 Versus April 2014 Boxscores): Met Gala Drives Fashion, and Rewards Still Compel Seniors to Click
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June 30, 2014 Media Industry Newsletter Vol. 67 No. 26 New York, N.Y. www.minonline.com Steve Smith's Eye on Digital Media (May 2014 Versus April 2014 Boxscores): MET GALA DRIVES FASHION, AND REWARDS STILL COMPEL SENIORS TO CLICK. May was an uneven traffic month with few seasonal cycles dominating, but audience de- velopment tactics and event coverage drove many of the bigger wins. God bless 'em, the retirees coming to AARP.org (+27.0% page views, +50.39% unique visitors versus April 2014) provided one of the strongest spikes last month. There's no seasonal explanation to it, but a big winner for AARP has been like a Web visitor loy- alty program. According to digital media sales director Peter Zeuschner, "Our growth is based on new initiatives like AARP's Rewards for Good and the AARP auto buying pro- grams, which we've supported with various promotions." Rewards for Good gives users of the site points for making use of tools and quizzes and other features that they can redeem for gift cards, daily deals and auctions. Talk about incentivizing site (boxscores are on pages 8 and 9; text continues on page 7) THE POST-FELIX DENNIS "MAXIM" IS ALSO THE POST-BEN MADDEN "MAXIM." Maxim is the common denominator in two very different experiences. The 67-year-old Dennis' June 22 death from throat cancer produced a flood of memories about a guy un- afraid to take risks either professionally of personally. His introduction of Maxim to the U.S. in April 1997 was arguably one of the most successful British cultural invasions since the Beatles, as 2.5 million 18-to-34-year-old American men embraced the "lad" marketing of fun, games and girls that made Maxim a hit in the U.K. Dennis smartly came here two years ahead of Emap-published rival FHM (the larger magazine in the U.K.), and his Maxim empire had expanded to Stuff, Blender and The Week when he sold all but The Week to Quadrangle Group for an estimated $250 million in June 2007. Dennis got a peak price in 2008-2009 when Cereberus Capital Management bailed out Quadrangle and folded Blender and Stuff. (Emap folded FHM in December 2006.) Maxim's market value had dropped precipitously with its rate base falling to 2 million and its monthly frequency to 10 times a year. Madden was in day-to-day charge since 1999, and the former Reader's Digest U.S. publisher won the industry's respect by keeping Maxim afloat through the chaos that accompanied the failed sale of the magazine to Darden Media Group last fall. When San Antonio-based fast-food (continued on page 2) THE NEXT min: JULY 14 We celebrate Independence Day's red, white and blue before returning for Bastille Day's bleu, blanc et rouge. Both are preludes to a summer highlighted by the wom- en's fashion and beauty magazines' September 2014 "fall previews" (July 28) and the monthlies' January-September 2014 ad pages (August 18). Have a great holiday. • STOCK WATCH: EARLY TIME INC. INVESTORS ARE MAKING A PROFIT.... Page 2 • APP REVIEW: SI MOBILE IS MOSTLY HIT, BUT THERE IS SOME MISS... Page 3 • MEDIARADAR'S "ATHLETICS"; WEEKLIES' MID-YEAR BOXSCORES. Pages 4 and 5 • NYT IS TOPS IN APP $$$; INSIDE b2b GETS SWEET......... Pages 6 and 11 • PEOPLE STYLEWATCH WOOS MILLENNIALS; ANGELINA, ELLE GO GLOBAL. Page 12 www.minonline.com © 2014 Access Intelligence, LLC. Federal copyright law prohibits unauthorized reproduction by any means and imposes fines of up to $100,000 for violations. PAGE 2 MIN 6/30/2014 THE POST-FELIX DENNIS AND POST-BEN MADDEN "MAXIM" (continued from page 1) investor Biglari Holdings bought Maxim in March 2014, Madden was expected to continue, be- cause running a magazine is far different from running Steak 'N Shake. Instead, Madden was a casualty of the transition along with editor-in-chief Dan Bova, associate publisher of integrated sales Sean Flanagan and senior VP of digital Bill Shaw. Stephen Gregory Barr, VP of business development, is in temporary charge of the day-to-day at Maxim until the hire of a publisher. He is credited for bringing new vitality to the Ebony-flagshipped Johnson Publishing Co. during his 2011-2013 stint as group publisher. "Maxim is being relaunched as a premium brand within the men's category," Barr says. The Biglari investment will be a "continued evolution of the brand through a revamped front-of-book, upscale photography and delivering relevant content: automotive, entertainment, fashion, food, luxury goods, grooming, spirits, sports and lifestyle editorial. "Moreover, our coverage of women will remain; however, the execution will be more upscale but not any less beautiful." The June Hot 100 cover is early evidence. Brand and creative director Paul Martinez, formerly with Men's Journal, is in temporary day-to-day charge editorially. The unnamed editor-in-chief will get that responsibility. ---------- STOCK WATCH (June 26, 2014, Wall Street close) COMPANY [SYMBOL] PRICE %/Change COMPANY [SYMBOL] PRICE %/Change 6/26 4 wks# 2014@ 6/26 4 wks# 2014@ APPLE INC. [AAPL] (stock split on June 8, 2014) 90.90 0.14 13.41 REED ELSEVIER PLC (ADR) [RUK] 64.54 0.99 7.48 CBS CORP. [CBS] 61.99 3.06 -2.75 ROVI CORP. [ROVI] 23.54 -4.27 19.55 COMCAST CORP. [CMCSA] 53.60 2.94 3.14 R.R. DONNELLEY & SONS CO. (RRD) 16.03 -0.12 -20.96 WALT DISNEY CO. [DIS] 84.45 0.50 10.54 SCHOLASTIC INC. [SCHL] 33.43 5.29 -1.71 FACEBOOK INC. [FB] 67.13 5.17 22.84 SCRIPPS, E.W. & CO. [SSP] 20.25 3.63 -6.77 GANNETT CO. [GCI] 30.52 9.47 3.18 TIME INC. [TIME]TWX 24.39 3.88 3.88 GOOGLE INC. [GOOG]* 576.00 2.84 2.79 TIME WARNER CABLE [TWC] 146.60 3.89 8.19 GRAHAM HOLDINGS CO. [GHC] 717.85 5.63 8.22 TIME WARNER INC [TWX] 69.40 -1.29 -0.46 INTERPUBLIC GROUP OF COS. [IPG] 19.40 1.52 9.60 20TH CENTURY FOX [FOXA] 35.15 -1.01 -0.06 LEE ENTERPRISES [LEE] 4.40 8.91 26.80 TWITTER INC [TWTR]; 41.44 21.88 -34.89 MARTHA STEWART LIVING OMNIMEDIA [MSO] 4.58 -3.17 9.05 VIACOM INC. [VIA] 85.44 -0.22 -2.65 McCLATCHY CO. [MNI] 5.42 7.75 59.41 XO GROUP (THE KNOT) [XOXO] 12.13 5.20 -18.37 McGRAW-HILL FINANCIAL [MHFI] 82.71 1.26 5.77 YAHOO! INC. [YHOO] 33.66 -3.55 -16.77 MEDIA GENERAL [MEG] 20.04 9.69 -11.33 min MEDIA INDEX 2,546.58 3.48 3.55 MEREDITH CORP. [MDP] 46.85 4.16 -9.56 MICROSOFT CORP. [MSFT] 41.72 3.42 11.52 NASDAQ COMPOSITE 4,379.05 3.09 4.85 NEW YORK TIMES CO. [NYT] 15.00 0.94 -5.48 NEWS CORP. [NWSA]F 18.02 5.26 0.00 DOW JONES INDUSTRIAL AVERAGE 16,846.13 0.88 1.63 # = From May 29, 2014; @ = From December 31, 2013; TWX = Time Inc. was spun off from Time Warner on June 9, 2014. Time Inc.'s opening price was $23.48 per share; * = Google effected a two-for-one stock split on April 3, 2014. Editor-in-Chief: Steven Cohn ([email protected]) 203/899-8437 Digital Media Editor: Steve Smith ([email protected]) 302/691-5331 Editorial Director: Bill Mickey ([email protected]) 203/899-8427 VP Content: Tony Silber; Director of Business Development: Scott Gentry ([email protected]); Director of Market Development: Laurie M. Hofmann ([email protected]); Marketing Director: Kate Schaeffer ([email protected]); Assistant Marketing Manager: Marly Zimmerman ([email protected]); Associate Editors: Arti Patel (apa- [email protected]) and Caysey Welton ([email protected]); Production Manager: Yelena Shamis ([email protected]); Editorial Intern: Samantha Wood (swood@accessintel. com); Senior Account Executive: Tania Babiuk ([email protected]); Contributing Editor: Cathy Applefeld Olson; Boxscores ([email protected]) SVP, Media Group: Diane Schwartz; Access Intelligence, LLC President & Chief Executive Officer: Don Pazour; Division President: Heather Farley; Subscriptions/Client Services: 888-707-5814; List Sales: Statlistics, 203-778-8700; Advertising: 203-899-8498; Reprints: Wright’s Media, 877-652-5295 ([email protected]); Editorial Offices: 10 Norden Place, Norwalk, CT 06855; 88 Pine Street, Suite 510, New York, NY 10005; Faxes: 203-854-6735, 212-621-4879; www.minonline.com Access Intelligence LLC, 4 Choke Cherry Road, 2nd Floor, Rockville, MD 20850; Ph: 301-354-2000 Published 2014 © by Access Intelligence LLC. Distributed via email and online. For email and postal address changes, allow 2 weeks notice. Send to: Client Services or call 888-707-5814. For advertising info contact 301/ 354-1629. Contents may not be reproduced in any form without written permission. Subscription Rate: $1049 MIN 6/30/2014 PAGE 3 APP REVIEW: "SPORTS ILLUSTRATED" GETS "RESPONSIVE" TO THE MOBILE SHIFT. Launched in late June as a responsive design across all screens, the new SI.com is de- signed to update breaking scores and team news that a fan wants front and center, while at the time, continuing Sports Illustrated's nearly 60-year legacy of content curation. It is part of a multi-part rollout that will include a video app 120 Sports, and a new fantasy sports app FanNation. We looked at SI from the mobile phone user's perspective. While the desktop/tablet version is a richer experience with a lot of slide-in content recommendations, the phone rendering is very dependent on ever- present navigation tools.