Sky & Space magazine

matt · #1 05-01-2009, 11:20 PM

I see the December issue of Bintel's 'Night Sky' newsletter is reporting the demise of S&S magazine.

Anyone have more concrete news?

iceman (Mike) · #2 06-01-2009, 07:27 AM

Interesting - that's the first I've read/heard from a major advertiser saying it in those sort of words.

A few months ago I saw one of the contributing editors on another forum saying that it would still be coming back. So I guess we'll see.

Omaroo (Chris Malikoff) · #3 06-01-2009, 07:48 AM

I really hope that this magazine resurfaces. I enjoyed its slightly different presentation enormously. Being home grown it should be applauded and supported - especially given the Aussie bent.

Advertisers are scrambling for relevant space in titles that target their specific market and are more than willing to wait for it to come back. I'm in the magazine advertising game and see this repeatedly when titles disappear for a while. Good luck S&S - I, for one, miss you!

matt · #4 06-01-2009, 09:38 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Omaroo

I'm in the magazine advertising game and see this repeatedly when titles disappear for a while

A while?

I'd say in magazine terms it's been absent for an eternity, having also worked in magazines.

Omaroo (Chris Malikoff) · #5 06-01-2009, 09:45 AM

My company is one of three (Digital Ads, Adstream and Websend) that sends nearly all electronic advertising to over 7,000 titles world wide from Australia on behalf of advertisers. We have stats to show that this is common practice, and not just a seasonal phenomenon. We re-introduce titles to our networks when a publisher asks us to, and then monitor their take-up from advertisers. Some titles have gone for a couple of years at a time to reappear and create heavy advertising traffic.

matt · #6 06-01-2009, 09:47 AM

Companies that I formally worked for were among the largest publishers of independent special interest magazines in the Southern Hemisphere...so nerrrrrrr!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

And as a member of the senior editorial team I became fully aware of the perils of missing a single issue...let alone going AWOL for many months and being inconsistent during the periods they were 'around'.

Anyway...I'm just wondering where the mag is at.....

Omaroo (Chris Malikoff) · #7 06-01-2009, 09:50 AM

Yep - all of them are our customers. Worked with them for decades to develop these systems. ACP, Pac Pubs, Fairfax Mags, you name them - we do them!

Anyways - I hope that S&S does come back. S&T needs competition to stay lively itself. No competition is no good!

Advertisers who rely on and pay for repeat bookings don't like to see their chosen medium go south, but at the end of the day it's the readership base that determines where advertisers will place a booking. If it exists - it'll be advertised in.

matt · #8 06-01-2009, 09:56 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Omaroo

S&T needs competition to stay lively itself. No competition is no good!

Not necessarily. Speaking from the editorial standpoint, which is my area, I know we never spent a great amount of time worrying about the competition's content, or keeping an eye on what they were doing. We believed in ourselves and charted our own course, confident that what we were doing was good enough. We effectively set the pace.

Competition in this instance might only work to keep the price of the mag at a lower level....but that's set by numerous market factors, nonetheleast being a healthy understanding of what the 'market' will tolerate, even in the absence of a 'competitior'.

Omaroo (Chris Malikoff) · #9 06-01-2009, 10:00 AM

I'm not offering that point of view on behalf of a publisher... but from an advertiser. If I can access similar demographics via two competing publications, I'll place my advertising where it's most efficient and cost effective.

We both have our own experience in the industry - but from opposite ends. We could debate forever Matt....

matt · #10 06-01-2009, 10:03 AM

I'm not sure you can entirely separate publisher/advertiser perspectives in the context of this 'discussion' about mag survival.

Anyway....I agree with you, Chris. Whatever our various standpoints...it'd still be nice to have this magazine back on the news stands

Omaroo (Chris Malikoff) · #11 06-01-2009, 10:25 AM

Yep - you can't separate the publisher/advertiser perspectives, as they are inextricably linked. They depend on each other entirely for their existence. I don't think that it's a black and white situation though. Titles do go "poof" for long periods - and this also includes those being swapped between publishers which then take time to re-build their presence. It's not necessarily an automatic death sentence - but it can't be easy to recover - that's for sure.

I sure hope they come back too.

matt · #12 06-01-2009, 10:31 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Omaroo

I don't think that it's a black and white situation though.

They never are, mate

However, I do think some magazines operate better than others when it comes to lengthy periods of absence like this - in terms of communicating with their readership the current state of play.

A timely release here and there can do an awful lot in mitigating the death sentence.

astroron (Ron) · #13 06-01-2009, 12:21 PM

I may be corrected in the future,but in my opinion it is dead.

Miaplacidus (Brian) · #14 06-01-2009, 03:41 PM

Er, thirteen posts so far, and, forgive me if I'm wrong, but no one seems to have spared a thought for the poor bloody subscribers. Surely they must (or should) have heard something definitive before now.

(Now that the Norwegian Blue seems to be well and truly dead, finally, one might come out and say that this cavalier attitude seems typical, despite countless past protestations to the contrary, and was really what doomed it in the eyes of so many erstwhile readers, myself included. So many unreturned phone calls, so many unreplied emails, so many excuses, so many threats of libel. Are the few remaining eternal optimists who are still on the subscription list going to be reimbursed?)

Anyone?

leon · #15 06-01-2009, 04:18 PM

Your probably right Matt, I actually canceled both subscriptions to S&S and S&T,

Leon

Virgs · #16 06-01-2009, 05:19 PM

They have a poor business model simple. Not withstanding the bad luck health wise they encountered there should have been procedures in place to ensure a steady flow to the customer. The fact that they have not refunded the subscriptions or given a definate answer to them about when they will appear on the shelves is further evidence of a poor business model. Any good they have done in the past has been tarnished by the continual disruption to what was an excellent read with good local content showing that they have the editorial aspect covered. It is a shame to see them go as I really enjoyed reading the magazine.

Jen · #17 06-01-2009, 05:31 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by matt

Companies that I formally worked for were among the largest publishers of independent special interest magazines in the Southern Hemisphere...so nerrrrrrr!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

LOL Matt that sounded funny reading that, so nerrrrr!!!!!!!!

matt · #18 06-01-2009, 06:47 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jen

LOL Matt that sounded funny reading that, so nerrrrr!!!!!!!!

Onya Jen. It was written tongue-in-cheek.

Glad it made you laff...

GrahamL · #19 06-01-2009, 09:00 PM

Well done chris and matt

.. none of my hard earned is ever going the way of any subsription to ANY mag ever again .

matt · #20 06-01-2009, 09:10 PM

Wow...not sure I want to take any responsibility for that decision

I don't subscribe, anyway....

I prefer to get my local newsagent to put one aside and pop in each month or so and pick it up, whatever the publication.

At least that way I'm sure it won't get 'lost' in the mail