Steve Cohn: 'Will Future Generations Read Magazines?'
The editor-in-chief of Media Industry Newsletter says magazines "remain very powerful brands," but face "a Darwin-esque survival of the fittest."

I Want Media, 02/05/02

Steve Cohn is editor-in-chief of Media Industry Newsletter (min), the weekly publication for the consumer magazine publishing industry. Cohn's informative "min-sider" report is a Monday-morning must-read for many magazine publishers and media buyers. Cohn joined min in 1986 after serving as managing editor of Optometric Management, a trade title for optometrists. ("That's where I learned to keep my eyes open," he says.) Cohn spoke with I Want Media about the "difficult" condition of today's magazine business and even reveals his expectations for magazines in 2017.

I Want Media: Have you always been a magazine buff?

Steve Cohn: Yes. My interest in magazines was "inherited" from my dad, Howard Cohn, who was on the staff of Collier's -- a tabloid-sized weekly much in the spirit of Life, Look and the Saturday Evening Post -- when it folded in 1957. His subsequent credits included editor-in-chief of Pageant, Medical World News and Graduating Engineer. The latter two were at McGraw-Hill, where he worked for nearly 20 years. Occasionally, my dad would take me to his office, which gave me a greater feel for the business.

IWM: What do you find most appealing about the magazine beat?

Cohn: The people. I learned right from the start from the late min publisher Bill Barlow (who passed away in 1994) that personalities are what make the magazine business interesting. You could not write about Time without paying homage to the tradition of Henry Luce, or Newsweek and the Washington Post without Katharine Graham, Reader's Digest without Lila and DeWitt Wallace, and Forbes without Malcolm Forbes. The same will apply in the future with Tina Brown, Martha Stewart, Oprah Winfrey and the late John F. Kennedy Jr.

IWM: How is the magazine business different today than when you first joined min in 1986?

Cohn: There are four key changes:

No. 1: Fewer influential small publishers. They were symbolized in the '70s, '80s, and early '90s by Dale Lang of Working Woman, Bernie Goldhirsh of Inc. and Larry Burke of Outside. Only Burke remains, making the dominance of the big multi-title publishers even more pronounced.

No. 2: The growth of foreign publishers. Gruner + Jahr USA and Hachette Filipacchi Magazines U.S. were "small" in 1986, but "big" in 2002. And Dennis Publishing -- with Maxim, Stuff and The Week -- was nonexistent 16 years ago.

No. 3: The technology magazine boom and bust. In the early '90s, the category surged in concert with new computer software products and countered the advertising recession in other sectors. Then, the dot-com surge in the late '90s spawned Business 2.0, The Industry Standard, Red Herring and Wired. We all know what happened when the dot-coms crashed last year. Business magazine advertising was also strongly affected positively, from 1995 to 2000, and negatively, from 2001 to early 2002.

No. 4: The influence of the Internet. "Multimedia" was not unknown in 1986, but the mid-'90s onset of the Internet placed it on a much higher level, with the never-ending challenge being integration with profitability.

IWM: You recently wrote, "Magazines are a business that has never had a reputation for being kind and gentle." Can you elaborate?

Cohn: The only difference between 1986 and 2002 is that news of surprise and controversial firings spreads much faster. In May 1988, when John Beni was dismissed from Gruner + Jahr USA after 10 years as president, I learned it from a press release hand-delivered to me by a messenger. Had it happened today, it would have been plastered all over the place. Instead, Beni, who now is vice chairman of Parade, remains relatively anonymous -- and he probably is very happy about that.

IWM: What's the big story in magazines right now?

Cohn: Overcoming the worst recession in memory, which was exacerbated by the Sept. 11 attacks.

IWM: How would you describe the state of the magazine industry today?

Cohn: Difficult, because of the weakened economy coupled with a finite advertising pie that an infinite number of media are seeking a piece of, and increased circulation fulfillment challenges. But as Don Kummerfeld, the former president of the Magazine Publishers of America liked to say, "Everything is cyclical."

IWM: Kurt Andersen recently told I Want Media that magazines have "declined both as businesses and cultural epicenters." Would you agree?

Cohn: Two years ago when Kurt was launching Inside.com, he and his friends were predicting that magazines would go the way of the pterodactyl. That may have echoed television pioneers William Paley and David Sarnoff 60 years ago. However, magazines, for the most part, coexisted with TV, and I believe they can coexist with the Internet. But Inside.com is no longer a major part of it, and Kurt is no longer a part of it.

Magazines remain very powerful brands. Getting a "Recommended by Good Housekeeping" stamp means much. Being Time's Person of the Year means much. Getting invited to Vanity Fair's Academy Awards party means much. If these aren't "cultural epicenters," what are?

IWM: Which magazine, or magazine person, do you find most difficult to cover?

Cohn: Conde Nast chairman S.I. Newhouse Jr. He is the very private leader of a very private company.

IWM: More than 100 magazines ceased publication last year. But why did the shutdown of Talk magazine get so much attention?

Cohn: Every cliché applies here: [You] live by the PR sword, and you die by the PR sword. The bigger they are, the harder they fall.

IWM: Do you think we'll see more magazine closures in the near future?

Cohn: Probably yes, because it is still a precarious economic time.

IWM: To which magazines do you subscribe, consumer or trade?

Cohn: I would subscribe to the newsweeklies, business magazines, Sports Illustrated, ESPN and the ad trades. Fortunately, in my job, I don't have to.

IWM: What's your favorite magazine?

Cohn: I gotta take the Fifth Amendment on that one.

IWM: What's the next trend in magazines?

Cohn: Probably a continuation of celebrity -- maybe Katie Couric Living? And niche titles -- TransWorld Snowboarding, etc. The latter trend matches the growth in television narrowcasting.

IWM: What are the biggest challenges facing magazines today?

Cohn: Competing in a crowded media environment, rising paper and postage costs, shrinking advertising, increased cost of building circulation, and the question: "Will future generations read magazines?"

IWM: Care to make any predictions about the future of magazines?

Cohn: A Darwin-esque "survival of the fittest." The major brands will do fine, with more multimedia integration, particularly with TV and the Internet.

IWM: You've been observing magazines for over 15 years at min. What do you see happening in magazines in, say, 15 years from now?

Cohn: It's a safe bet that in 2017, People will be the most profitable magazine, Time will have a Person of the Year and Good Housekeeping will be giving its stamp of approval. Other than that, your guess is as good as mine.



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