Dante Chinni of the Christian Science Monitor today considers why Time magazine is moving its publication day to Friday and has said it would seek to reduce circulation costs by cutting its readership by 25 percent.
Time’s new publishing schedule will mean it hits the streets on the same day as its British competitor. And Time’s idea about circulation, placing less emphasis on quantity, suggests an approach that several publications, including The Economist, have pursued: It’s not how many subscribers you have; it’s who they are.
The strategy is practiced by media outlets that are sometimes called the “elite media.” They aim at better educated, more-affluent audiences that have more money to spend on news and are more desirable to advertisers. The news outlets that serve them place a premium on trying to bring more depth and breadth to their coverage.
Among newspapers, the rise of the elite media can be seen in the growing and increasingly nationalized circulations of The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal. On radio, it can be calculated in the increase of National Public Radio’s audience. In magazines, the prime example is The Economist.
Should this give hope to those who bemoan the demise of the mainstream media? Time will tell. While I agree with the idea that knowing your audience is paramount (try to talk to the right people, not everybody), I’m concerned that this trend means more elite media and fewer efforts to reach the mainstream.
[link via mediabistro]
