December 11, 2007
Magazine Profits Way Up, Advertising Way Out
Consumer Reports Magazine influences millions of impressions and purchases every year by thoroughly testing thousands of consumer products then reporting the results. Based solely on their wide audience reach, CR could have turbo-powered media sales and advertising revenue. But they don’t…because they don’t advertise in print. Or online. Or anywhere. And they still manage to make $208 million in revenue while curbing a $28 million operating budget.
Their only source of revenue is via traditional print subscriptions and website memberships. The subscription to one or the either medium is identical ($26/year or $45/year bundled), and it offers CR two very large and diverse groups of readers, with “relatively little overlap between the print and Web subscribers — about 600,000″.
While the rest of the industry sees print readers as more valuable — because advertisers do — Consumer Reports actually makes more money from readers on its Web site, because it avoids printing, trucking and mailing costs.
New York Times – Success Without Ads
[via cnewmark]
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