WWD October 30, 2020 After launching a perfume and a furniture line, Hearst-owned Cosmopolitan magazine is continuing to expand its footprint outside of traditional print and is entering the wine market. Uncorked by Cosmo is launching Friday in partnership with Napa, Calif.-based Guarachi Wine Vineyards with four varietals — rose, chardonnay, pinot noir and cabernet sauvignon. Each bottle is priced at $14.99 and will be exclusively available at Wine.com. The idea predated the pandemic, but editor in chief Jessica Pels said the timing of the launch is spot on. “Wine is a logical thing for us to make for our consumer regardless…but honestly between the pandemic and the election there feels

New York Post October 27, 2020 Left-leaning investigative magazine Mother Jones has taken another shot at Facebook — this time claiming the social network’s “Big Brother” tactics have cost it jobs. On Monday Mother Jones’ news editor Patrick Caldwell revealed that the news censorship tactics of the social network run by Mark Zuckerberg cost it some $400,000 in lost revenue over the last three years. The $400,000 loss was particularly painful when the company had to reduce payroll to offset the coronavirus, resulting in it laying off six people on its 90 person staff, Caldwell wrote in the urgent appeal to readers for funds. “That $400,000 inevitably

New York Post October 15, 2020 If the media industry were to proclaim one silver lining of the pandemic it would be the book sale boom. Kids books are doing especially well as parents look for ways to keep their tots occupied at a time when playdates are hard to come by. E-book revenues for children and young adult books this year through August have surged 63.2 percent to $83.6 million, according to figures from the Association of American Publishers released this week. Adults also appear to be doing more reading — and listening — at a time when many bars and theaters remain closed

New York Post October 13, 2020 In a rare success story in the midst of the pandemic, a father-daughter team took over a tiny magazine named after Martha Stewart’s hometown of Bedford, NY, and doubled its ad-page count in the first issue. The buyer of the magazine, simply called Bedford, is Michael Kaplan, who has long been active in the commercial real estate world around Westchester. “The housing market is booming,” Kaplan explained of his success with the former TownVibe Media holding, which he renamed Bedford and New Canaan Magazine because it now covers towns in Westchester and Connecticut. The deal was possible due to the pandemic,

MediaPost October 5, 2020 In announcing Google's pledge of $1 billion in licensing payments to news publishers, CEO Sundar Pichair described his early affinity for newspapers as a child growing up India. Every morning at breakfast, he waited for his father and grandfather to finish reading the paper before handing it off to him to devour the latest headlines. It's a heartwarming account of an inter-generational bonding ritual that formed a reverence for journalism and its vital role in a democracy. Sadly, many newspapers have died out amid declining readership and advertising revenue in the past 20 years, a period that coincides with Google's

Freeport Press September 11, 2020 The corner newsstand took a series of near-fatal blows over the last several years as digital disruption upset everything from consumer reading habits to physical distribution. Yet it’s getting some much needed TLC as consumers rediscover the simple pleasure of reading in print. “Print sales are growing and subscriptions have increased for some titles, including FT Weekend, Monocle and The Spectator. With renewed interest has followed an appreciation of the newsagent,” writes Marianne Giusti in Financial Times. “From the traditional kiosk to the boutique ‘zine store, the newsagent has been identified as an unofficial emergency service, with a unique power to charm.” Freelance

Vox August 26, 2020 Sometime next month, iPhone users will start seeing a new question when they use many of the apps on their devices: Do they want the app to follow them around the internet, tracking their behavior? It’s a simple query, with potentially significant consequences. Apple is trying to single-handedly change the way internet advertising works. That will affect everyone, from Apple’s giant tech rivals — most notably, Facebook, which announced today that it’s fighting back against Apple’s move — to any developer or publisher that uses ad technology to monitor what their app users are doing on the internet. And it affects you, the

CNN August 15, 2020 In February, just weeks after starting as editor in chief of Marie Claire, Aya Kanai jet-setted to Europe for fashion week in Milan and in Paris. It was there that she started planning the magazine's September issue, considering what trends to highlight in what is heralded as fashion magazines' marquee product. Kanai did not know then that so much would change over the next six months. The September issue and all of the other print and online stories leading up to it would be produced, for the most part, from home because of the pandemic — a change that Kanai, for one, welcomed

One Mile at a Time July 31, 2020 The horrible situation that airlines are in is having quite an impact for many suppliers. For example, American Airlines’ nut supplier has a huge surplus, and is selling them directly to consumers. Inflight magazines are in an equally rough situation. They’re typically run by third parties, and rely on advertisers to pay the bills. With the number of travelers way down, circulation of these magazines is also way down. Well, it looks like United Airlines and INK Publishing have a creative solution for this… United Hemispheres Magazine now being mailed United Airlines’ Hemispheres inflight magazine hasn’t been published

Digiday July 22, 2020 Fashion brands are beginning to strut their stuff again. Three months after the coronavirus stopped the industry in its tracks, fashion brands are beginning to spend on advertising again, not just to promote fall and winter lines currently in production, but to capitalize on pent-up consumer demand as stores begin to reopen and hopefully drive sales of inventory that brands couldn’t move earlier in the year. Publishers will take bright spots wherever they can find them. But the budgets that have been unlocked are more focused on driving outcomes, publishers said, and some say they expect the recent trend of