Battle for the country - shelter magazines with country themes

Folio: The Magazine for Magazine Management, April 1, 1993 by Leah Rosch

There's a battle brewing out there, but don,t expect to catch it on CNN. This war can be witnessed during any given month at your local newsstand--and it promises only to escalate. The spoils at stake: millions of hearts, homes and pocketbooks of Middle America. The ammunition: a killingly comfortable kind of cozy. And the contenders: the more than two-dozen shelter magazines that celebrate "country" as if it were the second coming.

In fact, the leaders of this country crusade balk at being defined by the shelter classification. "Country is more than a decorating style, it's a way of life," says T.R. "Rocky" Shepard III, vice president and publisher of Hearst Corporation's Country Living, the seminal title in the field. "We,re a hybrid category of equal parts shelter and lifestyle."

Says Bob Mate, a vice president and publishing director for Meredith Magazine Group, which publishes Country Home: "It's the aroma of a great Sunday breakfast, like Grandma used to make; it's the relaxed feel of a favorite sweater, the kind that gets better the more it's worn. Country is a mindset, a more casual approach to life, one that starts in the home."

Regardless of how you categorize it, there's no question that country is hot. In one of the most treacherous advertising climates in years--one that nearly claimed the life of 23-year-old Metropolitan Home and caused, for the second year in a row, double-digit percentage drops in ad pages at other venerable shelter books like HG and Architectural Digest--country titles have thrived.

On top of steady circulation growth, both country Living and Country Home registered ad page gains in 1992, according to Publishers Information Bureau. Country Living, up 8.1 percent, to 1,100 pages, has held its ground nicely over the past five years. Country Home, mean while, has rebounded from a terrible 1990 with gains of 5.6 percent in 1991 and 7.3 percent last year, finishing with 408 pages. "The upscale shelter market foolishly believed it was recession-proof," says magazine and media consultant Leo Scullin. "But when conspicuous consumption went out, advertising dollars went with it--whereas the country titles survived on the strength of mass-market appeal." For all its hokey rhetoric, the category preaches to an audience of ardent followers that many in the industry are betting has only begun to be tapped.

The fight is on

The seeds of this rustic revolution can be traced to 1978, with the debut of Country Living. A tentative launch, hoping to capitalize on the nation's lingering bicentennial love fest with all things Americana, the publication didn't go monthly until 1982. But under the spirited direction of its original editor in chief, Rachel Newman, Country Living continues to be the book to beat. For the sixth time in the last 10 years, the magazine, which boasts a rate base of 1.7 million, made "Capell's Circulation Report" top-10 list of the hottest performing titles in 1992, coming in fifth. Like its counterpart, Country Home also got off to a cautious start. Premiering on the newsstand in 1979, the magazine became a subscription bimonthly in 1984. Two years later, Meredith graduated the title from its test status, but has continued to publish it on a six-times-a-year frequency. "It's a much better advantage to the advertiser," says publisher Joseph A. Lagani, "and subscription-wise, we're able to get $18 a year for six issues--often more than what most monthly magazines charge." With a rate base of one million and a CPM of $53 to Country Living's $41, Country Home has now secured the number-two spot in the category.

All that could change, however. And soon In December, The New York Times Co. Women's Magazines announced a test launch of three publications devoted to country decorating and crafts. Intended to hit newsstands in the last half of 1993, each magazine will have a distribution of between 250,000 and one million. And even though the titles will be produced as one-shots by the company's special-interest publications division, the Times Co. has signed Mary Emmerling, one of the category's most visible authorities, to lead the charge. As the author of 12 country-decorating books for Clarkson Potter and a former style editor for Country Living, she has established a name that even her competition concedes is synonymous with country style.

While the Times prepares for its first entry into the category, Hearst is apparently still hoping to make a go of its second entry, the environmentally conscious Countryside, a title described by one industry insider as "the magazine for earthy crunchies with a weakness for Ralph Lauren." Launched in 1990 with two test issues, Countryside published five times in 1992. This year, with a rate base of 400,000 (CPM of $58.25) and new editor in chief Carol Cooper Garey at the helm (the third person to hold that position since the launch), the magazine has gotten the green light for five more issues.

Rounding out the (battle)field--in addition to a host of country-music-oriented titles such as Meredith's booming Country America--are numerous, kitschier country cousins. Employing an implicit, impulse-buy approach in an effort to cash in on the country craze, these magazines have been sprouting up on the newsstand faster than Florida crabgrass. Among them: Country Decorating Ideas (Harris Publications), Country Accents (GCR Publishing Group), Country Sampler (Sampler Publications) and new in February, Country Sampler's Decorating Ideas.