Shifting Sources

Circulation Management, May 1, 2003

"When somebody goes out on the Internet, they go to play or to get information," says Hearst's Wells. "They don't say, 'I'm going out on the Internet to buy a magazine.' It has to hit them in the face, like in a grocery store - a magazine is a spontaneous buy."

But a magazine can be on the Web and in your face, too. FHM presents visitors to its site with a multitude of subscription opportunities, including pop-ups. "As much as I absolutely detest them, they work like gangbusters," says Allyn, who says FHM's Web site signs up 75,000 new subscribers a year. Playboy's Rotunno, too, reports success with Web site subscriptions. With 80,000 to 100,000 orders annually, she credits Playboy.com with about 5 percent of its new subs. "We're trying to make inroads, but we're really happy with the 100,000 we're getting, and we do very little to get that."

On-site subs are also a growing source for Slater's Conde Nast titles as the Web sites build more traffic and marketers hone in on the best ways to get readers' attention. "We've learned quite a few things, such as if you've got a story up, have the offer there - above the fold. And you should have an offer on every page," Slater says.

But all the tricks in the book won't bring subscribers to a Web page if they're not online to begin with. Sarah Roman, group publisher at Taunton Press, which publishes a number of special interest titles, including Fine Cooking, reports that although online subscriptions are increasing at a double-digit rate every year, the gain is not spread equally among all books. "Gardeners, for instance, are not huge Web users, versus the cooks, who are all online," she says.

ONLINE AGENTS: UNKNOWN QUANTITY

"This is not American Family Publishers revisited," says FHM's Allyn, summing up a general consensus on the limited potential of online agents. While FHM is listed for sale by a number of online vendors, Allyn doesn't expect them to evolve into a be-all and end-all source. As Wells from Hearst pointed out with respect to that publisher's efforts to sell subs directly through the Web site, Allyn says, "Nobody goes online to sub to a magazine. When you go online, you're looking for information, not a subscription to Vanity Fair."

Slater agrees. "You have to ask, what do people gravitate toward? Names that they know. I'm not saying the online agents aren't producing subscriptions, but are these URLs even known by people?"

That's not the case with Amazon.com, of course, but even there, few publishers considered the Internet marketplace a significant source. "Since they are a big Internet site it's a very logical place for us to be," says Hearst's Wells. "Will I get as many subs on Amazon.com as I can on Oprah.com? I doubt it, even with the pricing the same in both places. If people want O, the Oprah Magazine, they will likely go to Oprah.com. That said, if a person is shopping on Amazon.com and a promotion or some pop-up occurs, that could spur sales for a given magazine title."

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