As traditional sources of revenue are further shrinking an outsider to the magazine world might be tempted to conclude that mag makers must be a pretty gloomy bunch. In truth, many publishers seem to have regained a positive outlook, at least those who have managed to transform their businesses.
Indeed there has been an ongoing industry-wide transformation driven by digitalization: Whereas it used to be the case that the printed magazine was the epicenter of all other business, now magazines have morphed into multi-media brands, of which the printed magazine is just one (albeit important) asset.
The chart below based on findings by Folio shows how the magazine business has changed in the 10-year period from 2004 to 2014 by listing the diverse sources of revenue. This chart was published by FIPP here
From Magazines to Multi-Media Brands
