Report: Hispanic Magazine Media 2012 (Premium Content)

Hispanic magazines are definitely growing. According to Kantar Media data, ad revenues of Hispanic magazines increased by no less than 25% in 2011 and by 26.5%  during the second quarter of 2012 versus a decline of general market consumer magazines of 5.2% in 2011 and a decrease of 4.2% growth during the second quarter of 2012.  The increase in Hispanic advertising has been partly due to the recovery of the automotive category.

Of the 35 national Hispanic magazines tracked in this report by Portada, see box below, 8 grew in circulation, 2 decreased in circulation, 4 folded, 2 magazines were launched and the circulation of 19 magazines did not change. In terms of frequency, overall there was a decrease in frequency with some biweeklies going into monthly frequency.

Let’s take a look at the most striking developments in Hispanic magazines or Hispanic magazine media (see how the MPA formerly Magazine Publishers Association recently changed its name to Association of Magazine Media highlighting how magazines publishers have become platform agnostic brands.

• Who folded?
  Well, it happens every year. Some pubs fold. Others close their print issues but continue having a digital presence. In 2011 this was the case of AARP-Segunda Juventud, the150,000 circulation quarterly published by the AARP that was direct mailed and also sometimes published as an insert in Hispanic newspapers.  While Hispanic content marketing and custom magazines have been thriving over the last few years it is interesting to see that a major custom published magazine, DirecTVMas, also folded. The controlled circ. quarterly magazine (900,000) which was produced by Los Angeles-based En Español Publishing Group stopped being published because DirecTV has been quietly implementing changes to its Hispanic strategy, including phasing out its DirecTV Más brand. Finally, Miami based Maya Publishing Group, owned by Mexico publishing house Notmusa, stopped circulation of Récord, Fútbol al Máximo, a 75,000 monthly paid circulation title.

• New additions!
  The big news is that there are several major magazine launches in 2012. Hearst, one of the largest U.S. magazine publishers just launched a stand alone magazine on May 1st called Cosmopolitan Latina (circ. 545,000, twice a year) it has also expanded its online properties to cater to English-dominant Latinas. It is also introducing bonus content for English-language Latinas in targeted copies of the monthly English-language edition of Cosmopolitan. In addition, Vida y Salud Media Group is launching a quarterly magazine with a circulation of 500,000. The magazine will be available in doctors’ offices all over the U.S. “The magazine is a bilingual flip-book.  Spanish in one direction and, when you turn it over, English in the other direction,” Vida y Salud publisher Carl Kravetz tells Portada.
  Vida y Salud has the opportunity to get the pharma advertising dollars that used to be captured by Readers Digest Selecciones before Selecciones folded in 2009. (Update: Carl Kravetz, publisher of Vida y Salud tells Portada that the launch of the magazine has been delayed until Q1 2013 to better fit client/agency media planning schedules. Meredith Hispanic Ventures sells the Vida y Salud property).

• Brands more than ever
  Magazines are part of an overall marketing mix of the publishing media company: digital, mobile, events, print and more. (The MPA formerly Magazine Publishers Association recently changed its name to Association of Magazine Media highlighting how magazines publishers have become platform agnostic brands.) With the advent of tablets, and mobile media (including apps) brand extensions have gotten even more important for magazine publishers.Take for example HispanicBusiness® Media, who states that it is committed to providing its readers and customers with the highest-quality information available on the U.S. Hispanic business market, HispanicBusiness® Media’s integrated products—HispanicBusiness® magazine, HispanicBusiness.com®, HireDiversity.com® and its events and research units—are dedicated to distributing the most sophisticated content and exclusive research-setting standards.People en español claims to reach more than 9 million consumers through PeE Connect, which encompasses print, digital, mobile, retail and high-profile red carpet events. Streaming of events is an additional way to reach the audience and also an advertising vehicle.  Amy Galleazzi, Senior Director, Public Relations, People Magazine Group at Time Inc.,   tells Portada that the 2011 “Las Estrellas del Año” eventwas live streamed exclusively through PeopleEnEspañol.com. The streaming was sponsored sponsored by L’ Oreal Paris. In addition, People en español partners with Yahoo for the “51 Mas Bellos” contest and event. Another brand extension is People en español’s tablet edition.  Advertisers who run a 1/3 page or greater ad in the national print edition, have the opportunity to run in the tablet edition of that issue. Full page national qualified print ads are automatically included in the Tablet Edition unless the advertiser opts-out.Niche oriented magazines have a similar strategy. Auto A Fondo Media, the publisher of Auto a Fondo magazine,is a multi-media platform in Spanish language that since 1990 generates automotive content for Hispanic outlets. “We produce Auto A Fondo TVHD, a TV show that is broadcast on the speed channel from USA to Chile, a total of 28 countries. We also have a weekly radio show through WRadio 690 in Los Angeles. In addition, we have a full color printed magazine that is distributed in the top 20 Hispanic Markets in the U.S that complements this package. There is also a digital version of the magazine, and through “apps” all of our editorials are reachable by mobile devices. Our Facebook page has over 22,000 followers. You can find more information about us, as well as see the digital magazine,” says Ricardo Rodríguez-Long, editorial director at Auto a Fondo Media.
  During the rest of 2012 and 2013 we will see how magazines invest in digital

• Protect Your Beautiful Niche
  Niche Magazine Media is also successful in the Hispanic market. (This includes Portada and its affiliated digital and event properties, ha!). There are quite a few often overlooked titles that are successful or have rebounded (like the case of some auto-magazines.)
  An example of a Hispanic B2B magazine is Abasto (circ. 30,000 bimonthly) which offers unique, customized content focused on the Hispanic food entrepreneur. Content includes business advice, new product reviews and other tools Hispanic Food Entrepreneurs need to grow their business. Another example of an independently owned B2B magazine is Transporte Latino, published by Arbol Publishing Group, a magazine published monthly in Spanish for the Class 3-8 trucking industry.  It is nationally distributed and audited by BPA at over 72,000 copies per month.
  Edgar Iorio, publisher of Transporte Latino tells Portada that the magazine has a mixed distribution model   It has a free digital component for anyone who wants to review the magazine online, but otherwise it is distributed throughout the US at all major and independent truck stops, tire centers, new and used dealerships and the like.  Print is sold as a stand alone with digital being offered as bonus.”  Arbol Publishing also publishes Que Pasa Vegas and Automundo magazines.Another B2B construction sector oriented publication is Construguia. A free quarterly Spanish Magazine distributed in many Home Depot and 7 Eleven stores. Its advertisers are mostly construction sector oriented, but it also has more general consumer oriented advertisers due to the very large amount of Hispanics working in the construction industry.

• Controlled Circulation vs. Paid Circulation, The pendulum swings to Controlled
  Controlled circulation as opposed to paid circulation (newsstand sales and subscriptions) continues to be the predominant distribution form, but definitely not the only one, of Hispanic magazines. Controlled circulation guarantees publishers a distribution to offer to advertisers, which is very difficult and costly to build via subscription and newsstand sales. For example construction magazine Construguia is distributed through Home Depot and 7 Eleven stores. A few years ago there were a substantial number of Hispanic magazines that were distributed through so-called carrier newspapers. Hispanic newspaper publishers inserted these magazines in their daily or weekly publications all over the U.S in exchange of  a carrier fee. Very few magazines still have this distribution vehicle. The exception being Futbol Mundial, Beisbol Mundial and Nexos published by Eclipse Marketing.

• The need to acquire “digital mass”
  One thing that many Hispanic magazines, or companies that originally were only Hispanic magazine publishers have not been able to do yet, is to expand their website presence in a way that it surpasses the reach of their print products (reach usually is 3 or 4 times the circulation of the magazine depending on the magazine’s pass-along rate). Many magazines bet on their digital destinations (mobile and web as brand destinations) According to Omniture data PeopleEnEspanol.com reached 1.4M global unique visitors last October.Other publishers are aggregating third party online destinations in their content category. This is the case of the Mundial Sports Network, parting from its owned and operated properties Futbolmundial.net, Beisbolmundial.net and BoxeoMundial.net, publisher Felix Sencion has added many other properties to its network to create the largest network of online properties targeting the U.S. Hispanic sports fanatic with over 6 million monthly uniques according to ComScore. Some of the network members are Latin American or Spain based properties that have substantial traffic from U.S. Hispanics.

The 2012 State of Hispanic Magazine Media