17 July 2018

Muller Martini: print – a lean-back medium

In the current global environment – which is being shaped by the digital transformation – the question naturally arises of how magazine publishing companies are faring and how they are rising to the challenges of the present and future. We went in search of answers to that question.

The key takeaway is that print will remain a media anchor for the foreseeable future. That is backed up by the sales figures of German magazine publishers. 57% of their revenues still come from print, while online accounts for 20% and the rest is generated by a range of other products and services.

Print has undeniably lost some of its market share to online channels over the years. However, today it is no longer about playing one channel off against another, but about making appropriate and, above all, profitable use of all the channels by adopting a 360-degree strategy. In the era of digital transformation, printed magazines remain the key tool for establishing strong media brands. That will remain the case in the coming years.

However, innovation cycles in the publishing industry have shortened considerably. It is no longer sufficient for companies to rest on their laurels and rely on existing concepts. Instead, those concepts need to be adapted increasingly frequently or entirely new topics need to be embraced. The circulations of country living magazines have rocketed over the past few years. Currently health magazines are in vogue with readers. And who can predict what the next craze will be in two or three years' time?

Futurologist Matthias Horx always stresses that every trend has a counter-trend – a phenomenon that is also true of the media landscape. That doesn't mean that everything will go back to the way it once was. However, there are signs that the digital hype surrounding some platforms is starting to wear off. Procter & Gamble, for instance, cut its online spending by EUR 100 million. Having experienced no decline in sales, it is restructuring its media mix, which will also benefit print.

Bastei Lübbe AG publishing house in Cologne, specialises in dime novels and puzzle magazines – a genre that even print connoisseurs may not necessarily have on their radar, but which remains highly popular today. Unsurprisingly Bastei Lübbe too has seen a decline in circulations, but its performance is stable compared to the press market overall. The publishing company sells some 24 million magazines per year, 3 million of which are puzzle magazines.

The products of the Bastei Lübbe publishing company are a further example of how print is a lean-back medium that allows people to sit back and relax. We should put forward that argument even more strongly to all those that shape and influence the media mix.

To produce attractive print products, state-of-the-art printing and print finishing systems are needed. In an increasingly challenging environment, our customers are looking for reliable partners for their means of production and regular innovations to meet new requirements. Those innovations have to be financed from lower numbers of units sold, prompting Muller Martini's takeover of the Kolbus perfect binder and bookline business at the start of this year.

Source: Muller Martini