September 3, 2006 -- Something akin to infanticide is taking place in the magazine industry.
As evidenced by the closings of Celebrity Living, Sly and, most recently, For Me - all launched in 2005 - magazine life spans are getting shorter and shorter.
Since 2003, survival rates for magazine launches have plummeted. Of the 454 magazines launched with a frequency of four issues per year or more in 2003, 45 percent, or 204 magazines, are still in publication, according to Samir Husni, a k a Mr. Magazine. By comparison, only 133 titles, or 38 percent, of the 350 magazines launched in 2005 are still around today.
"If a magazine isn't born with a bang nowadays, then it's stillborn," said Husni.
Just three of the 21 titles to close this year were launched prior to 2001, according to data compiled by the Magazine Publishers Association. Half of the 36 magazines shuttered last year were launched in 2000 or later.
"The magazines that are closing now were either ill-conceived or of limited vision," said industry consultant Martin Walker, adding that many were conceptualized for marketing rather than editorial reasons.
That's certainly true of titles like Condé Nast's Cargo - another of this year's casualties - which was clearly designed with the sole purpose of getting fat off advertising aimed at the metrosexual crowd.
Not a few industry observers likened magazine publishers' quick trigger to that of the broadcast networks, likening pulling a title after a few issues to canceling a program three or four episodes into its run. To further the analogy, publishers are conceiving magazines to have runs more along the lines of "Joe Millionaire" than "The Simpsons." Longevity has been replaced by a lust to capitalize on an immediate, if fleeting, social trend.
Or, as DeSilva & Phillips managing partner Reed Phillips said, "Publishers are making assessments about a magazine's viability much faster than they used to. They are trying more things out, and if they don't click quickly, they are moving right on to other ideas."
