|
|
of YM and Seventeen
Teen leaders going head to head at newsstands
By Jamie L. Jones
Attention paid to the blossoming teen category usually goes to the glitzy launches of the past several years.
But over recent weeks much of that attention has switched back to the teen titles that led the field long before the rise of Teen People, and more recently, Cosmogirl.
They are Seventeen and YM, the No. 1 and No. 2 titles in the category, and the tangling between the two is both fierce and very public.
A few weeks ago, YM was able to report that it had beaten Seventeen in single-copy sales, an area where the latter has traditionally reigned, in the first half of the year.
And last week, Seventeen stole away the woman credited with YM’s newsstand growth: editor Annemarie Iverson.
Iverson's mission is to goose up Seventeen as she goosed up YM.
"Seventeen has been, I think, a little bit neglected—a little bit sad or overlooked," says Iverson, who took up the editor’s post at Seventeen on Monday.
It's a contest that clearly will be fought at the newsstand, and everyone, from editors to publishers to staffers, knows it.
"An editor is graded every month by those numbers. It’s a report card," says Iverson.
Lagging newsstand performance, she says, "is an indication of something being wrong—a reflection of something not hitting the right tone, not being compelling enough, being out of step."
Under Iverson, YM boosted its circulation to 2.3 million, just behind Seventeen's circulation of 2.4 million.
Actually single-copy sales are declining for both Seventeen and YM—but the numbers are falling faster at Seventeen.
Seventeen’s total paid circulation has not changed, but it has lost 18.4 percent of its newsstand sales in the first half of 2001, according to the Audit Bureau of Circulations. Single-copy sales are down to 471,527.
Circulation is up 3.4 percent at YM, to 2,276,939, and single-copy sales are down 5.6 percent to 594,000, according to the ABC.
The other teen category veteran, Teen magazine, dropped 32.6 percent in single-copy sales versus last year. Of its 1.8 million total circulation, it sold 223,695 copies on the newsstand in the first half of 2001.
Teen People—the launch that shook up the category three years ago—sold 565,000 of its 1.6 million copies on the newsstand in the first half of the year. Total circulation is down 3.6 percent, and newsstand is down 16.4 percent.
As for the much-talked-about new launches, Iverson believes they’re in it for the ad money.
"The motivation has been the really strong advertising marketplace and not exactly a call from girls to create a new magazine," says Iverson.
"None of those books has created critical mass, but there’s a lot more noise on the newsstand. It is tougher in a newsstand sense, but I don’t think their missions are exactly clear, and they don’t have a loyal following."
Seventeen may hope that Iverson’s Midas touch will apply to drooping ad sales.
YM leads the category in ad growth. Pages at YM have jumped up 39.4 percent year-to-date, from 316.6 to 443.1, according to the Publishers Information Bureau. Ad revenue has risen as well: 50.4 percent, from $26.3 million to $39.7 million year-to-date.
Seventeen, on the other hand, has taken a 7.1 percent hit in ad pages year-to-date, from 898.1 to 834.1 pages, according to the Publishers Information Bureau. Ad revenue is creeping upward at a rate of 2.4 percent so far, from $68.2 million to $69.8 million.
Iverson has changes in mind for Seventeen that look to boost newsstand figures. She says that she wants to clean up visuals and clarify the magazine’s voice.
Iverson replaces Patrice Adcroft in the editor’s chair at Seventeen. In addition to her post at Seventeen, Iverson will serve as editorial director of Primedia’s teen group, which includes Teen Magazine, and a host of smaller titles.
The editorial staff at Seventeen is none too happy with the abrupt changes. Adcroft was popular among her staff, and now they’re worried about their jobs.
Iverson’s appointment caught the staff by surprise, and now they’re hunkering down for other staff changes.
"Since last Thursday, the mood of the staff has gone from feelings of sadness at the loss to feelings of fear over our jobs, and the jobs of our colleagues," writes an editorial staffer at Seventeen, who spoke to Media Life on the condition of anonymity.
"Most people are unsure of where they and the magazine stand. Our outgoing editor, Patrice Adcroft, was very loved by the staff, and most felt that she was extremely talented. She truly loved the magazine and everyone loved working for her. The sudden change took many by surprise."
Iverson visited Seventeen offices on Monday where she began meeting one-on-one with the current Seventeen staff.
When Iverson came to YM, she hired an almost entirely new staff. At least one Seventeen editor has announced her departure since the change, says the staffer.
Meanwhile, at Gruner + Jahr’s YM, former executive editor Christina Kelly will step up to the editor’s chair.
YM publisher Laura McEwen says the magazine will survive Iverson’s departure.
"Annemarie is sensational, but the greatest success stories are always collective. I certainly don’t feel in any way like it’s not going to continue," says McEwen.
"Seventeen has definitely acknowledged that its product has not kept up, and the ad picture is not looking good down the road."
McEwen, too, stresses YM’s newsstand numbers.
"The fact that we’re in the lead at the newsstands...a lot of it comes down to the celebrity talent, and the ability to wrangle the right talent," says McEwen.
McEwen credited YM’s close relationship with BMG with pulling in talent. Parent company Bertelsmann owns both BMG and Gruner + Jahr.
September 26, 2001 © 2001 Media Life
-Jamie L. Jones is a staff writer for Media Life.
Printer-Friendly
Version | Send
to a Friend
Cover Page | Contact
Us
