SI & ESPN: Dealing With A Tough Economy
Amanda McDavid

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ESPN the Magazine's circulation has been up and its biggest competitor, Sports Illustrated,  reported its newsstands up 20% as well. Yet, ad pages are down for both, as well as for most magazines. That is not news (see biweekly boxscores in the August 11th issue of min here and the weeklies in the August 18th issue here.) The American economy is troubled and advertisers' hesitation in spending big on print magazines is reflecting that. What is interesting, however, is how these two magazines (representative of the magazine industry as a whole) are weathering the storm and what they are doing to offset the damages in a lacking print ad environment.

ESPN and SI are dealing with the situation in two primary ways:

1. Certain advertising categories are actually up and not down- The automotive category, more than any other, is affecting low ad pages. ESPN is down 13.93% from last year, SI is down 7.4 %, and yet, ESPN’s VP of ad sales Steven Binder said that ESPN would be up 8-9% if the automotive category was factored out. ESPN’s increased focus on men’s style, fashion, and beauty, with increased editorial support, has been very successful, along with the quick service industry, two categories especially popular with its target audience, young men. SI has also enjoyed great success in certain categories this year, such as retail, food, and beer. SI’s VP of ad sales Dick Raskopf said these categories are doing even better than they did last year.

2. The enlarging multimedia focus softens the blow- As Raskopf aptly put it, “Integrated marketing has kept our bottom line growing. Multiplatform campaigns allow us to tailor ourselves to what customers want, which is the most important.” ESPN’s Binder reiterated the importance of multimedia as well. “Especially in tough economic times, advertisers want to align themselves with a blue chip brand that can offer them a strong multimedia package all under one roof that is a sure thing."

 “Would we like a strong economy? Absolutely. But we don’t have one and so there is a need for new solutions. With our new implementations in place, we would be doing very well if it wasn’t for the economy,” said Raskopf.



















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