A Battle Magazines Will Lose

Among the many screwy features of the way American magazine publishers do business is a system whereby circulation is guaranteed to advertisers only on the basis of a six-month average, rather than per issue. Now, not surprisingly, advertisers are trying to change that.

Their argument is a good one, too: The old method stems from a time when magazine ads were typically bought in multi-issue schedules. Now, a single-issue run is more common, so a marketer who places his ad in an issue that bombs is out of luck.

Also not surprisingly, publishers are resisting, but the arguments on their side are less solid. As things stand now, publishers are able to compensate for a lousy few months on the newsstand by adding a lot of new subscriptions, usually purchased from an agent, to jack up the average. But those subscriptions are junk, often going to "readers" who didn't ask for them. They're a lot less valuable, to an advertiser, than the real readers who buy the magazine on the newsstand.

Since the publishers are merely trying to maintain the status quo, you could say the advertisers are in the weak position of trying to get something for nothing. But with spending draining out of print and into online, the advertisers have all the leverage they need. Expect to see them win this battle.