County magazines: lost in cyberspace?

Clare Cook, Senior lecturer in Print and Online journalism, Uclan

@cecookCatherine Darby, Course Leader MA

Magazine Journalism, Uclan

County magazines are bucking the trend

CHAMPIONING PRINT OVER DIGITAL

STEPPING INTO LOCAL NEWS TURF

TRANSLATING FROM THE COFFEE TABLE

TO DIGITAL

County: top of the pops

Under researched yet...

Leisure (421 titles)Sport (283 titles)County, Town and Local

(277)Women’s interests (227)

Vital statistics

Lanca

shire

Life

Cumbria Li

fe

Live Ribble

0

20000

40000

60000

80000

100000

120000

140000

160000

CirculationReadership

• Lancashire Life 50:50 £3995

• Lancashire magazine 55:45 £2200

• Cumbria Life65:35 £2600

• Carlisle Living75:25 £1850

• Live Ribble Valley30:70 £895

County content is...

Aspirational

Filling the local news gap on their turf

CampaignsHuman interest

Education“boring news in

newspapers”

HYPERCOUNTYdistribution

Cashing in on the printed format

Positive dual productCommercial beastsAccountability

Can county print translate online?

Print

SelectivityKudosTimelessnessTargetingTactility

Digital

GeneralityMass conversationInstantaneousMass driversVirtual

v

Shop windows

Shop windowPotential for added

valuePhoto competition

entriesTouch points

Dipping toes in social

Negative: contentResisting publishing onlineHerd mentalityBolt-on or by-productShoe horningPrint first strategyCannabalising print ResourcingCommercial uncertaintyPhysicality

Negative: relationships

Suspicious and nervousnessProtecting contentManaging adverse commentDamaging the clubLack of understanding

Luxury hero brand puts print first

where accountableadvertising

clubs and kudos

win

Online limited scope

Scarcely resourced teams

Conservative leadership

News page CMSFree online

content cannabalising print

v

Prospects

• Data capture• Extending brand

interactivity• Alternative business

intiatives

CLARE COOK

@cecookwww.clarecookonline.co.ukcecook@uclan.ac.ukFind me on Linked in, Flickr, Paper.li, Delicious, Foursquare, or in a nice Thai restaurant!

http://www.phil-rose.co.uk/blog/?p=609 http://www.google.co.uk/imgres?imgurl=http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-W2ggi3RTPTk/TfOKs7zX8qI/AAAAAAAABto/pja-R4DO_WE/s1600/Social%252BMedia%252BWorld.jpg&imgrefurl=http://donaldclarkplanb.blogspot.com/2011/06/7-objections-to-social-media-on.html&usg=__3Lxk1WJL1_eeF6HcL4ZcfauBF_o=&h=401&w=480&sz=50&hl=en&start=0&zoom=1&tbnid=JAjc9V5Tw_1kUM:&tbnh=113&tbnw=135&ei=2ugSTsv-OMWo8AOh8_CeDg&prev=/search%3Fq%3Dsocial%2Bmedia%26hl%3Den%26biw%3D1262%26bih%3D551%26gbv%3D2%26tbm%3Disch&itbs=1&iact=rc&dur=511&page=1&ndsp=20&ved=1t:429,r:4,s:0&tx=77&ty=62 Image credits to Lancashire Magazine, Lancashire Life, Carlisle Living, Northern Life, RW Media