TORONTO – Rogers Media is dropping some of its magazine titles and moving others to online only as it struggles with declining print readership.
The company said Friday that it will zero in on its English-language consumer brands by focussing on the “content pillars” of entertainment, lifestyle, parenting, news and current affairs, and sports. Starting this fall, Rogers will divest of all business-to-business publications plus will seek new ownership for French-language publications Châtelaine, LOULOU, and L'actualité.
Beginning in January, Flare, Sportsnet, MoneySense, and Canadian Business will be available only on the web and on apps, and some magazines will reduce their print frequency: Maclean's will be printed monthly instead of weekly, while Chatelaine and Today's Parent will publish six times per year rather than monthly. Hello! Canada will remain a weekly print publication. Texture editions will match the print schedules, except for Maclean's which will run as a weekly edition.
Rogers said that digital consumer revenue for its magazine brands is outpacing newsstand revenue by 50%, and that unique visitors to its magazines online have increased 41% in the last two years. The company added that it has committed more than $35 million in capital and marketing to create and promote digital content and transition the business to a "digital-first infrastructure".
"It's been clear for some time now that Canadians are moving from print to digital, and our job is to keep pace with the changes our audiences are demanding”, said SVP of digital content & publishing Steve Maich, in the news release. “We are so much more than a collection of magazine brands, and we've seen rapid growth on our digital platforms over the past few years. Now is the time for us to accelerate that shift."
