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Magazine print revenues rise hints at recovery
Simon Nias, printweek.com, 23 August 2010
Magazine printers have reported unseasonally strong revenues in July and August, following a gradual increase in paginations from the consumer sector.
Derbyshire-based Buxton Press reported a 15% surge in turnover last month, compared with July 2009, largely due to the upward trend in paginations.
Kirk Galloway, director and general manager at Buxton, said: "In the past two to three months, print runs have started creeping up by an extra 500 or 1,000 copies, but most of the increase has come from paginations and also some new business."
Darren Coxon, managing director at fellow sheetfed magazine printer Pensord, said the Welsh printer was experiencing a similar boost.
"Both pagination and print runs are definitely increasing, which has led to us having just recorded our best ever set of half-year results," he said.
"Our own experience is that circulations are recovering slightly, but it is the paginations that are really going up a lot faster."
Meanwhile, in the longer-run end of the market, Polestar has also reported rising paginations year-on-year, although run lengths have remained "pretty static".
Polestar marketing director James Povey said: "We are seeing an improvement in paginations and, while run lengths are pretty static, the current vogue for bumper packs is having a beneficial effect."
The use of bumper packs, where one or more magazines are given away for free with another, has increased dramatically in the past year as publishers have looked to shore up falling circulations.
NatMag bundled Best, Reveal and Real People 20 times in the six months to 30 June, while Northern & Shell multipacked OK!, New and Star 18 times in the same period.
"There are quite a few going on, which obviously requires more printing," said Povey. "We've definitely seen more than in any previous year."
According to the latest figures from the Audit Bureau of Circulations (ABC), total circulation for the UK consumer magazine sector rose just 0.3% year-on-year in the first six month of 2010, although Galloway said he was hopeful that the summer sales boost would not prove to be another false dawn for the sector.
"We keep being told about the green shoots of recovery but trading conditions remain challenging for printers and publishers alike," he said.
"At Buxton we're hoping that this noticeable upward trend heralds a more positive phase in the fortunes of our valued clients and is a further indication of our sector's overall resilience and determination."