A song and a prayer: building on its status as the Rolling Stone of its genre, Contemporary Christian Music has put its faith in multimedia - periodical - Company Profile

Folio: The Magazine for Magazine Management, July 1, 1993 by Tony Silber

If contemporary christian music is on the verge of a major popular breakthrough, then Contemporary Christian Music will be right there when it happens, and in its own way, partly responsible. Executives at the Nashville-based magazine believe that Christian music is about to boom, much as country music's popularity exploded in the 1980s. In fact, they say, the proof is already evident in the success of such crossover stars as Amy Grant and Michael W. Smith--and, significantly, in CCM's own growth.

The 15-year-old monthly, founded as Contemporary Christian Magazine and repositioned in 1986 to focus entirely on music, has grown rapidly over the past several years, reaching a current circulation level of about 60,000 after spending most of the 1980s fluctuating around 35,000. Ad sales have increased, too, from a total of 335 pages in 1990 to 375 in 1992. (The magazine sold 80 ad pages for the first quarter of 1993.)

And that may be only the beginning, says the magazine's publisher and executive editor, John Styll, who also serves as 25 percent owner and president of CCM's parent company, CCM Communications."Our goal for CCM is to hit 100,000 circulation. Our tests show we have about one million names to mail to very successfully. We're ready to roll out once we have the capital."

Why the recent success? Because CCM--a nondenominational title that goes mainly to enthusiasts but also to musicians--has developed an editorial mix that is broad, touching on pop, rap, rock, gospel and alternative music. It has strengthened its circulation by increasing renewals and developing a variety of innovative subscription-boosting techniques, such as a profitable program of including blow-in cards in the CD sleeves of Christian artists' albums. But most important, CCM has aggressively promoted its position as the preeminent magazine on the scene, thanks to a new multimedia initiative that exposes the e to an audience far greater than its circulation, increases its leverage with advertisers, and heightens its importance to the bands it covers.

"A lot of record companies feel they have to be in CCM," says Leslie Nunn, associate publisher Of Today's Better Life, a Washington, D.C.-based health and lifestyle magazine targeted to Christian readers that competes peripherally with CCM. "They say, |We'd love to be in your magazine, but we feel we must be in CCM.' I've heard that from more than one record company."

The multimedia strategy (launched last April) includes a weekly television show on The Family Channel as well as a weekly radio countdown show. "Through these mediums, we are exposing a lot more people to the magazine than ever before," says Styll, who foundded the monthly title as a tabloid newspaper in 1978. Until recently, the magazine had been averaging about 170 new subs per week through half-minute, soft-offer spots on CCM-TV. (Response has since fallen by about 30 percent with the introduction of a hard offer.) Styll expects to average an additional 250 to 300 orders per week from a new one-minute commercial offering a video Premium with Paid subscriptions.

The "CCM-TV" show began airing last July, after CCM was approached by The Family Channel. As owner of the program, The Family Channel underwrites the production costs and keeps the ad revenue, although CCM gets a one-minute commercial per show to solicit viewers via an 800 number. "It's produced several thousand new subs," Styll says. "And it's established us as preeminent in our industry. Our ad community tends to be a little fickle. We thought that by diversifying our media, when [advertisers] say, |We're going to put our money into radio,' we'd say, |Fine, we can do that.' Same with TV. "

The radio show, launched last April, is a 60:40 venture with a radio syndicator, and costs CCM about $ 10,000 to $11,000 per month. It's carried on about 90 stations and, like the television show, reaches between 300,000 and 600,000 listeners per week, generating between 30 to 50 orders. And although the show is not making money, having lost about $50,000 to date, "the concept itself has dramatically strengthened our position in the marketplace," Styll maintains. "We have had interest in multimedia advertising from places we would never expect."

Overall, the multimedia endeavor has helped boost the balance sheet. By the end of fiscal year 1993, CCM's revenues are projected to increase by more than $500,000-to $1.6 million from $ 1.1 million in fiscal 1991. For CCM Communications, which also publishes Worship Leader, a one-year-old title for church musicians, and the Clitistian-music business newsletter "The CCM Update," revenues are projected to hit $2 million by the end of fiscal 1993, up from $1.2 million two years ago. Styll predicts the company will break even this year, as capital is plowed back into the broadcast programs and circulation building. But he says his goal in the short term is to achieve 10 percent returns.

CCM's television and radio shows have also helped create a sense of community for Christian music, observers say. "In Christian music, things have tended to be more fragmented," says Dez Dickerson, vice president of A&R (artists and repertoire) at Star Song Records in Nashville, a CCM advertiser. "Having a top-10 countdown helps give the consumers a glimpse of what we in the industry are using to track radio success." As for the television show, Dickerson says it's a welcome addition to the few media-access channels available to the musicians.