Time, Inc. is number one in magazines in more places than you can imagine worldwide, with USD 1 billion in EBITDA - a cash cow by any measure. Ann has been putting the cows on a diet and focusing on giving people what they want - which is not necessarily what you might think. Chubby stars, philanthropists and leaders are amongst the yearnings of Time Inc.'s audiences, but fear still sells: a
Time mag issue on global warming topped 100 most important people. But many issues were not big hits. How to reposition Time more effectively with its portfolio of four product portfolios. The solution: realign folios along audience interest lines, with clusters such as News, Entertainment and Lifestyle - a little more like the tabs in a major online portal than the hundreds of little standalone fiefdoms that few publishers can afford to cultivate these days. With supermarket visits tumbling as well, there are fewer opportunities to get in front of audiences than ever before.
Time's offering are much more visual these days, catering to the online generation and to the weekend audience that has a choice between Sunday newspapers and other outlets to catch up on favorite interests. It's a race, though, against online outlets: total online advertising is already exceeding magazine revenues in many instances. So even with staggering numbers and a long legacy of innovation and leadership in publishing "what have you done for me lately" challenges Time to make the most of its high-quality editorial resources. Where does Time, Inc. fit today: deep vertical experiences, according to Ann. "Our bet is that depth trumps breadth." How to become an audience's favorite bookmark? By focusing away from traditional competitors that are dwarfed by Time's footprint and to focus on where to play and how to win.
The information and skill that Time has offers depth in six key verticals that map up with their new silo strategy. How to win with this strategy? Build a great product, build and audience - online traffic is growing at their properties - and then monetize it. Efforts seem to be paying off pretty well: CNN money is number four behind the Google, Yahoo and MSN finance offerings, and growing. People's scoop on the Brangelina baby drew millions of downloads, as did other key photos of celebrity events. A new celebrity database will provide rich data and original content such as fun facts and milestones along with breaking news and events - adding depth that's well adapted to the strengths of online content. "Stickiness" is there in spades in Time properties, especially at the growing People online portal.
Ann sees big brands doing big business online, "It's not too late," she says optimistically. Editors are tuned into audiences more than ever before and coverage has been responding to those dialogs. People fans can interact with their favorite celebrity brands, as can focused audiences in portals such as
Essence which provided voting for a dream wedding in an exotic spot. Years of "reality" programming positions Time well to respond to everyday people becoming the spotlight of online and print offerings. "Queen for a Day" had nothing on today's modern human dramas. By contrast Sports Illustrated was a little slow out of the gate, in part because of players such as ESPN which have stronger inroads to all-important online video footage. However, swimsuit-oriented issues have provided a plethora of merchandising and content reuse options as well as online video offerings. The light bulb has gone off and these offerings will be used to sell, amongst other things...swimsuits! And you always thought...
Archives are another area for online exploitation, allowing monetization outside of major aggregator databases. This makes it easier to provide linked attribution to Time properties as the original source of stories that have developed over time. But a scary reminder: revenues from online audiences are far, far thinner, 5 dolalrs per unique online visitor versus USD 118 per print user. Focus is the key for online audiences. "Transformation means hard choices," Moore said, though Ann discounted the importance of "that long tail theory." So experiments like "Office Pirates," which gained 10 million monthly viewers, was considered a failure and closed down. This could be a prime rubbing point for established media companies as they fail to invest in less profitable titles that may reflect a more realistic profile of the typical online property moving forward. Giants will survive as giants if they continue to move quickly as Time is managing to do, but they may not be giants for the reasons that they are today. As content moves more into the hands of audiences, the qualities required to build media giants shifting - keeping folks like Ann Moore challenged to put the right team together to adapt to these changing times. You can't say that the giants don't get it, but you can say that it's a hard, aggressive game these days that provides tough decisions. Ann seems to be up to the task, though, and eager to continue to attract major brand advertisers who are looking for the print and online offerings that work for them.
- Key tidbits in the tail end of Ann's presentation: 52 percent of women relax via reading - the most popular activity.
- Ann's not afraid of cannibalization, acknowledges the mistake of early fears of putting magazine content online, aggressive online development has not impacted print sales. [COMMENT: print will remain as a high-touch premium offering to maintain online relationships, but the price for that offering is in question.]
Interesting side note: a number of attendees were really ticked off at Ann's presentation. Apparently they felt that she pulled a lot of punches and glossed over the huge lag that Time had in starting to understand online content. I agree to some extent, but when your married to print you're not going to talk too harshly about it as your online mistress gets more popular. Time has a delicate marriage to work out around brands, some of which may sink as traditional media brands lose the ability to enforce the human values that user-generated content can provide.
