Marie Claire Isn’t Completely Done With Print
Marie Claire may have ended its regular print run to focus on digital, but it’s not disappearing from newsstands altogether.
Its new owner, U.K.-based and publicly listed Future plc., told WWD that it will still publish two issues a year, in May and September, the latter being the most crucial month of the year for magazine publishers as they seek to grab ad dollars.
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“We’ve gone to twice a year with print,” Jason Webby, Future’s chief revenue officer in North America, said. “But we are primarily digital with the brand and that came from a lot of research on the demographic that we’re looking to connect with and that we do connect with. They resoundingly want to consume that content in a digital format. Our social footprint is really strong with Marie Claire. Our e-newsletters are very strong and growing.”
Future, which also owns Marie Claire U.K., Woman&Home, GoodToKnow and MyImperfectLife.com, acquired Marie Claire U.S. in July from Hearst Magazines and Marie Claire Album for an undisclosed sum and didn’t waste any time ending its regular print run. But even before the sale, Hearst quietly reduced the title’s print frequency from 11 issues to just seven in 2020 and launched its first digital issue with cover face Janet Mock.
Shortly after Future acquired Marie Claire, it snapped up U.K.-based Dennis Publishing, whose titles include The Week and Minecraft World in a deal valued at $300 million, and more acquisitions are thought to be in the cards.
“As we’re a public company I can’t speak specifically about any targets, but I do know that the strategy that our CEO [Zillah Byng-Thorne] has put in place is to both grow organically and to grow through acquisitions where it makes sense for us,” added Webby.
On whether that could be in women’s lifestyle media, he said: “I know the category itself is important to us and one that we intend to be a major dominant player in so whether that means we’re going to grow very much organically in that space or add more titles I would say either of those strategies are probably ones that we would be considering.”
Future’s revenue rose 79 percent in the year to September to 607 million pounds on increases in digital advertising and e-commerce, while pre-tax profit was 107.8 million pounds.
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