Modern Maturity baffled by sibling; sister title scores while flagship book loses pages, revenues

Folio: The Magazine for Magazine Management, Nov 1, 1991 by Tony Silber

Here's one that's got the folks at Maturity Magazines Group, the publishing divisiion of the American Association of Retired Persons, scratching their heads. The Bulletin, the group's long-time newspaper "stepchild," is for the first time outperforming Modern Maturity in advertising--at least proportionally.

The Bulletin has 67.7 ad pages through its November issue, says Leda Sanford, advertising director for both publications. It had 73 pages for all 12 months of 1990. "You can be sure we'll exceed that with the next issue," she says.

And annual advertising revenues for the Bulletin, which relies mainly on mail-order ads, are expected to increase by $1 million, to about $18 million, by the end of the year.

By contrast, Modern Maturity is projecting an 8.5 percent decline, from 227 ad pages in 1990 to 207 in 1991, says Charles Allen, acting publishing director for Maturity Magazines. The title's revenues though August were $30.3 million, down 10.9 percent from $34 million in 1990, according to Publishers Information Bureau.

Make no mistake, Modern Maturity is clearly still the flagship, and the major breadwinner. But "the Bulletin is more responsive," Sanford admits. "We wish we knew why. It's the same people" reading both titles.

"Maybe subscribers don't mind cutting up the newspaper [to get coupons]," Allen suggests. "People do not want to cut up Modern Maturity--they want to save it."

Paradoxically, Modern Maturity offers the advertiser far more flexibility--and is less expensive. It offers a variety of circulation options, including regional editions and test markets. The Bulletin can be bought only nationally. A half-page, black-and-white ad in the Bulletin, which is the largest ad offered in that publication, costs $159,675. The same half-page, black-and-white ad in Modern Maturity costs $133,150.

Allen and Sanford insist the Bulletin's gain has not come at Modern Maturity's expense. Some of the advertisers are new, while some are now buying in both publications, he says. Also, the Bulletin is primarily based on mail-order ads, whereas Modern Maturity has a broader mix, including many national display ads.

"We had salespeople out there pushing harder in a tough market," Allen explains, "and they were more successful than we thought they would be."

Allen says he wants to analyze the successes of the Bulletin and try to duplicate the results with Modern Maturity. He can only hope that Modern Maturity's advertising universe hasn't (ahem) matured.