The sale of Us Weekly by Werner Media to American Media Inc. (AMI) has quickly become the biggest magazine media story of the year so far.
As Caysey Welton in Min says about the deal, “The disclosed price tag of $100 million was jaw-dropping to many, and it reinforced a belief still common in the business—that magazine brands still have value. A lot of value.”
Jaw-dropping indeed, but not terribly surprising that a company like AMI – currently seeing upward trends in both their print and digital titles – would want to acquire a brand like US Weekly.
“We believe that Us has not fully explored its potential,” explains AI CCO Dylan Howard. “It also adds another household name to a portfolio of brands that reach more celebrity consumers across print, digital and video than any other U.S. publisher.”
(Among those other familiar AMI brands are OK!, Men’s Fitness, National Enquirer, Star and Soap Opera Digest.)
“From an advertiser perspective, we’ve acquired a brand that has an outstanding demographic,” Howard continues. “Us Weekly stands out, so it’s a very attractive proposition to advertisers when combined with the editorial currency that it has.”
And while the title currently boasts a solid digital revenue stream that’s more than 30% of its total revenue, print will continue to be a “tremendous part of our future,” according to Howard.
“There is a trend of stabilization in our industry,” he continues. “We think there’s still more room to grow and that we can grow Us Weekly at the newsstand. We are very confident that we can reverse the industry decline and that print is an important piece of the future.”
As do many in the industry, and in the marketplace. Print continues to fill a vital role in the multi-channel landscape, offering advertisers the kind of engagement not found on screens