David Carey, president of Hearst Magazines, put out a memo to staffers about the plans for his company in the year that just started. Latin Markets both in the U.S. and in Latin America will play an important role in Hearst 2013 plans. As Portada recently published, Carey noted that Cosmopolitan for Latina will be upping its publishing frequency to quarterly in 2013.
Carey also reviewed the integration of Hachette titles into the Hearst stable of magazines. (In early 2012 Hearst Corp. entered into an exclusive negotiating window with Lagardere that led to Hearst’s 640 million euros (approximately $833 million) purchase of Lagardère’s non-French magazine properties in 14 countries, including Elle– and Woman’s Day.) According to Carey, Elle had “very strong growth in its first full year of Hearst ownership, gaining market share and becoming our second-largest business in the U.S.” In addition, Carey referred to HGTV Magazine, created in partnership with Scripps Networks. “HGTV ended its first year with nearly 700,000 paid subscribers, producing average monthly newsstand sales of more than 250,000 and strong reception from advertisers. This year, the title will move to 10 issues annually.”
Digital Expansion …
Carey noted in his memo that the number of unique monthly visitors to Hearst magazine websites grew by more than 30 percent. “Hearst Magazines now has an impressive 800,000 monthly digital subscribers… Our brands have driven an explosion in social engagement with their audiences; Hearst has 7.7 million Facebook fans, 4.7 million Twitter followers and 5.5 million Pinterest followers, including the No. 1 brand on Pinterest, Harper’s BAZAAR.” The significance of the mobile medium also increased substantially throughout 2012: “At the end of 2011, we had 39 million monthly page views on mobile devices; by the end of 2012 that number had grown to 186 million.”
…with strong Emphasis on Social Media
Carey added that Cosmopolitan doubled the size of its digital edit team in December, with the goal of reaching 20 million monthly unique visitors. The magazine also used a multi-pronged social media strategy engineered by iCrossing to welcome new editor in chief Joanna Coles: 18 million tweets announcing Joanna’s move were sent in just a few hours. The brand is also active on the TV front.”
…International Business Grew by 50% in 2012
Carey noted in his memo that Hearst’s Magazine’s International Business grew by 50% in 2012. Hearst is the largest publisher of monthly magazines around the world, with 284 of our 304 editions outside the U.S. “I’m pleased to report that in 2012 our international business grew by more than 50 percent. European shortfalls resulting from the ongoing turbulence in the economy were offset by the strength of earnings from our businesses in Russia and Asia—China, in particular, where ELLE has seen so much success that it moved to a semi-monthly publishing schedule.”
Latin America played an important role in 2012. Editorial Televisa Colombia introduced a local edition of Esquire last September. Esquire Colombia was launched in partnership with Hearst Magazines International. The magazine is published in Spanish with an initial print run of 77,000. Esquire Colombia marks the 26th edition of the magazine.
The team at Hearst Magazines International is readying another dozen launches in 2013.
ICrossing, Hearst digital agency which is present in Latin America and has U.S. Hispanic ambitions, also was mentioned in Carey’s memo: “We welcomed new leaders, in the U.S., the U.K. and Latin America, to boost iCrossing’s digital marketing leadership. In 2012, iCrossing won two out of every three pitches and signed 30 new accounts—with its average deal size now 250 percent larger than two years ago. iCrossing’s fourth quarter revenues were the highest in its history.”
