Magazines Still Hold Their Own

As much as I enjoy trying to live a “connected” life I must admit, I am still a fan of the magazine rack. Last night I decided I needed a break and went by the local Tower Records to wander. As usual, I ended up browsing the magazine aisle to see if anything caught my attention. Almost every time I visit this particular store I come away with some off the wall film magazine that I can never seem to find again. I wouldn’t be surprised if most are doomed to a two or three issue run; as I mentioned these are the odd magazines. Last night I picked up a little gem, Film Fanaddict. It was a bargain at $3.95 for a collection of Issues #1 and #2. Now, as a guy who loves films, I am willing to try a little of everything. Film Fanaddict certainly falls into the “everything” category. It is not a high brow film magazine, it deals more with the obscure cult films.

I ended up reading some interesting interviews with directors, John Waters (Pink Flamingos and Hairspray), John McNaughton (Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer and Wild Things), Don Edmonds (Ilsa She Wolf of the SS) and Chan-wook Park (Oldboy). There were also some interviews with long standing cult film acting favorites Bruce Campbell (Evil Dead and Army of Darkness) and Tura Satana (Faster, Pussycat! Kill!… Kill!) [Note, Tura actually left a comment on my Reel Reviews podcast when I covered Faster, Pussycat! – Link]

All this for $3.95 and I think I got a bargain. What got me thinking is I was happy to part with the money for the physical item. If it had been a web-page or a podcast, I might not have actually hit the buy now button. There is something that takes place when you exchange money and get to walk out with something in your hand. I still haven’t quite nailed it down, but as we work on rolling out GigaVox Media I am paying close attention to the monetization of content, particularly focused niche content. Given that this particular magazine is extremely niche in nature and buried in the back of an already eclectic collection of magazines what are its chances for survival? In fact, it is entirely possible it is already out of print as both issues are from 2005. However, for the niche it serves, this is good stuff and I’d like to see it flourish.

I do wonder why they go through all the hassle of taking it to print when the web is so much more efficient in aggregating an audience? My guess is it has to do with the economics of advertising in print vs. the web. I wouldn’t be surprised if the advertisers have some bias about the value of a physical item like a magazine when it comes to paying to place their ads. “It is in print,” still seems to have that ring of credibility. I really don’t know, but I am curious.

What I do know is there’s a lot of opportunity in niches like this, particularly when well executed. I’d like to find a way to make it predictable and repeatable. In the mean time, I’m going to contact the publisher and see if Issue #3 made it into print.