It doesn't look too good at first glance, but the following comments sound encouraging.
'Mr. Schweitzer is more interested in the company's electronic program guides on digital cable networks, which he thinks will be the way increasing numbers of consumers will make viewing choices. "We'll take a shot on a few things and see what they yield," he says.'
Ofcourse, we all know that this is the direction Gemstar-TVGuide is headed anyway(but I don't know how the average joe is going to react to this "news").
I apologize if this has already been posted!
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Advertising
TV Guide Reduces Its Circulation by 8%;
Faces Competition From Channels, Sites
By MATTHEW ROSE
Staff Reporter of THE WALL STREET JOURNAL
NEW YORK -- With little public fanfare, TV Guide magazine cut its circulation by 8% to 9.9 million this summer, the third time in five years one of America's best-selling titles has reduced this critical metric of a publication's health.
The move reflects TV Guide's continuing battle with the growing number of television channels, Web sites, and others that provide their own listings. Advertisers over a period of years have been cutting their spending accordingly.
The magazine's declining readership also mirrors the fast-changing economies of the magazine industry. Almost all mass titles, including venerable women's magazines such as Good Housekeeping and Ladies' Home Journal and others like Reader's Digest, have lost circulation in recent years. Competition from newer titles and higher costs associated with winning and keeping subscribers are mostly to blame.
For TV Guide, the lower rate base come at a trying time. Advertising sales through July fell 5% compared with the year-earlier period, says the Publishers Information Bureau. In the first six months of the year, total paid circulation slipped 8% to 10.8 million after a sharp drop in newsstand sales compared with 1999. TV Guide says that decline was planned. For the second half of 2000, the publisher has cut its circulation guarantee again to 9.9 million. At its height in 1975, the publication's circulation was 19.7 million.
To compensate, TV Guide has embarked on an aggressive strategy to develop new products under its famous brand. Joe Kiener, the co-president and co-chief operating officer of Gemstar-TV Guide International, says there could be a time when all TV Guide listings are available only electronically. Gemstar International Group, a provider of on-screen electronic program guides, and TV Guide completed their $14.2 billion stock deal last month. The new company is based in Pasadena, Calif.
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TV Guide Screenshot
TV Guide Magazine: 9.9 million guaranteed circulation
TV Guide Channel: 54 million homes
TV Guide Online: 3 million unique monthly users
Interactive TV Guides: 7 million subscribers
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"Beyond the magazine the real story is that we have a multitude of platforms," says Mr. Kiener. The company says its cable channel reaches 54 million homes, its Web site garners three million unique monthly users, and its interactive program guides are used by seven million subscribers. The TV Guide channel will pull in advertising revenues of close to $90 million from virtually nothing two years ago, say TV Guide executives.
"You tell me if a reduction in the circulation from 10.5 to -- I don't even have the numbers, which speaks for their importance -- how much does that matter in that context," insists Mr. Kiener.
Although many magazine companies are trying to push advertisers to buy space in their print and Web editions simultaneously, TV Guide has been more successful than most, publishing and ad executives say, particularly after it joined forces with Gemstar. Mr. Kiener says 40% of the company's advertising sales consist of clients buying ad space on more than one platform.
"They have had to be more aggressive as over the course of time the electronic services are making the TV magazines obsolete," says John Miller, president of the NBC Agency, the in-house advertising and promotion group for General Electric's NBC. If the magazine is losing advertisers, TV Guide might as well cannibalize the magazine and retain those dollars on different platforms rather than lose them to another company, he notes.
But NBC's studied approach underlines the embryonic nature of TV Guide's strategy. Mr. Miller says the network is still buying advertising a la carte rather than jointly across different platforms and would likely shift spending only if offered discounts in these new products. Around 40% of TV Guide's advertising revenue comes from the TV networks.
Meanwhile, Mr. Miller voices confidence in the magazine. "TV Guide, while decreasing in mass, still has mass," he says. "The other things have promise but not mass."
Some advertisers are also moving cautiously. "We are not as strong on the Web site," says George Schweitzer, executive vice president, marketing for Viacom's CBS television network. Mr. Schweitzer is more interested in the company's electronic program guides on digital cable networks, which he thinks will be the way increasing numbers of consumers will make viewing choices. "We'll take a shot on a few things and see what they yield," he says.
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