Publishers Reconsider the Cost of Belonging

Will Hachette Filipacchi Media's defection from the Magazine Publishers of America trigger a wider exodus? Earlier this week, Ad Age reported that the French-owned company, home to Elle, Car & Driver and other titles, was dropping out of the trade association to save money on dues. Now there's talk that other publishers may quickly follow, Hachette's departure providing some cover at a time when virtually everyone has been forced to lay off employees and shut down weaker properties.

What was the price of Hachette's loyalty, exactly? A well-placed source tells me that the company's annual dues totaled approximately $1 million. [See correction below.] And Hachette is far from being MPA's biggest source of reveue. Membership dues are charged as a percentage of the member's total advertising revenue, as tallied by the Publishers Information Bureau. Assuming the rate is consistent, Hearst Magazines is paying about $2 million a year to belong to MPA, Condé Nast (which owns Portfolio) pays about $2.75 million, and Time Inc. coughs up nearly $3.25 million.

An MPA spokesman didn't immediately reply to a request for comment.

Update: The reply from MPA:

1. We do not disclose membership dropouts.
2. Dues for domestic members are based on circulation revenues and ad revenues.
3. Hachette. While we don't disclose what our members pay, the number you cited is highly overstated.

Correction: Since I published the initial version of this item, it has become clear to me that the $1 million figure cited by my source as Hachette's annual MPA dues was substantially exaggerated. The other figures were all extrapolated, via back-of-the-envelope calculation, from my source's figure; thus, they all represent inflated estimates as well.