Traditional LGBT print media continues to struggle. Latest casualty? Zero magazine in Spain.
Ian Johnson, Out Now
November 25, 2009
Topics: Lesbian and gay media. Gay communications. Lesbian and gay media publishing. Gay media market. Gay and lesbian marketing. Web 2.0 and traditional media. Zero magazine. Spanish gay and lesbian market.
The traditional bastion of gay market media - print magazines - continues to show signs of decline, with news today that the next issue of Spain's leading gay print media product will be the last.
Zero magazine - which has for the past 12 years been published in glossy print for Spain's gay market - had a track record of quality and interviews with some of that country's leading political and media figures.
Now it has been announced that the next issue will be its last.
The holding company behind the magazine has struggled to cope with the effects of the current worldwide recession - with advertising revenues reportedly down by more than a half since the start of 2009.
Not the last
GayMarketNews.com believes that Zero will unfortunately not be the last traditional gay and lesbian media market print magazine to struggle and even fail.
According to Ian Johnson, CEO of Out Now - a leading global lesbian and gay marketing agency - the closure of Zero magazine in Spain's gay and lesbian media market is part of a wider industry trend.
"This is not a phenomenon particular to gay and lesbian media," Johnson said. "Many print products in the general media market are finding their revenues under attack from the combined effects of the recession and the migration of readers to online media product. But it is hitting particularly hard in the gay market as many gays and lesbians no longer feel so strongly 'personally connected' to the need for a gay and lesbian community print media product. In some ways this is a byproduct of an improving acceptance of gays and lesbians in many parts of the world."
The closure of Zero gay magazine in Spain's media market follows closely the news that Window Media - publishers of some of the leading US gay and lesbian print media newspapers - closed for business last week.
Even The Advocate - one of America's gay news print media 'hero' mastheads is being spun into the pages of its more lifestyle-oriented glossy sister publication Out magazine.
Adapt and prosper
"In business as in life, everything changes," Johnson said. "Nothing stays the same. It is sad to lose publications that many of us have grown up with, and it is unfortunately probably true that only those gay media providers that recognize changing gay community media habits and LGBT market forces - and adapt accordingly - will make it through the recession. But those that do this will not only survive, they should prosper in the changing gay and lesbian media business landscape."
"Those that don't may join the ranks of gay print media that no longer publish. We hope that the numbers in that category can remain small."
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