Magazine publishing icon Matt Handbury believes too much of the advertising and marketing industry's time is spent talking about digital considering how little brand-building advertising spend it receives.
Speaking at last Friday’s Australian Magazine Awards, where he was inducted into the Magazines Hall of Fame, Handbury refuted the “overwhelming perception” that the world has shifted away from traditional media communication to digital.
“That such a shift is assumed as evidenced by the 95% of marketing, advertising and media time – entrepreneurial, creative and energetic time – spent on the 5% of marketing and advertising dollars spent on digital activity which can be regarded as a true replacement of traditional media communication,” he said.
“I am not talking about search, directory, reference, classified advertising communication here. The digital world has enhanced the efficiency and effectiveness of these enormously and they appropriately are carrying the predominant share of a deservedly bigger pie. Similarly, social media provides a news means of facilitating word-of-mouth recommendation and as such cannot be ignored.
“Sure, plenty of traditional media content is now available for consumption through digital devices. And there’s a racket of ‘talk’ going on in social media. The time spent staring at tiny mobile phone screens must come at some cost of time spent on print product. But there are still millions of magazines being sold each week – their overall reach remains massive.”
Handbury, the founder of Murdoch Magazines, went on to say: “More importantly, they are carrying pretty much the same number of ads they always carried. Though I am offended more than anything by how little the industry is getting paid for them these days, but that’s another matter.
“But one way or another, pretty much the same audience is being exposed to the same amount of magazine advertising as always. And this is true of television, radio and newspapers.
“So despite the 95% of time being spent talking about digital, only 5% or so of brand-building advertising (expenditure) is happening there. Advertisers have not abandoned the overall volume of their traditional media voice – the prospect would terrify them. Think about it next time you are face with giving that extra discount or losing a significant campaign (probably to a competitive magazine).”
Handbury finished his speech commenting on the rise of tablet devices such as the iPad. He said: “Magazines will assert themselves in the tablet space. And people will pay for them. We will compete for these circulation sales as we have for decades in newsagents and supermarkets. And the rich new data around paid exposure to content will be the gold standard of digital audience measurement.”
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