2008 Circulation Salary Survey

With a market in turmoil, circulation professionals see salaries level out or decline amidst increasing responsibilities.

By AD Staff
Wednesday, December 3, 2008

---

It was a tumultuous fall, which saw the sad state of the economy taking its toll on magazine publishers across the industry. Ad revenues were down and costs were up—and continue to be—even as circulators, consumer marketers and audience developers took on an increasing workload associated with cross-platform audience strategies. And as the market made its way through a correction that saw the trimming or realigning of print and digital departments as many companies reversed course on what had once been staff and technology build-outs to accommodate new business development efforts, surviving staff took on even more responsibilities. Unfortunately, and perhaps predictably, not much of this is reflected in pay levels in our 2008 Circulation Salary Survey.

Circulation Director or Top Circulation Executive

Circ directors, for the most part saw their mean salaries rise slightly over last year, the one exception being consumer circ directors. Their salaries fell by about $2,200. Unfortunately, this continues what’s become a two-year trend. After a sizeable spike between 2005 and 2006, consumer circ director salaries have been on the decline. And yet the trend of increasing responsibilities has not abated, and this year top circ executives don’t seem to have much to show for their extra efforts. B-to-b and association circ directors, however, have been enjoying rising salaries over the last 3-4 years.

When asked about additional responsibilities outside of their formal job descriptions, respondents noted everything from advertising marketing and database management, to business intelligence, Internet and email marketing. One person said, “More time testing and quality control is required due to printer/fulfillment/ newsstand consolidations, as well as testing and quality control of new media Web and digital.” And this year, as it seems every year, we received this reply: “Too many to list.”

Circ directors are optimistic about their total (salary plus additional cash) compensation for this year, with 64 percent reporting that they’re expecting an increase in 2008. Thirty-one percent, however, think it will stay the same.

The gender gap actually increased by another $4,400 in 2008—with males reporting $92,100 and females reporting $73,300.

Working for a company with more than $10 million in revenue seems to be the place to be, with respondents indicating that salaries are about $46,000 higher than those at companies making less than $10 million. Likewise, circ directors who work at titles that make more than $3 million in revenues earn $50,000 more than their counterparts at titles that make less than $3 million.

Circulation Manager

After watching compensation spike across the board from 2006 to 2007, circulation managers reported salary levels dropping again in 2008. One verbatim points out decreasing ad revenue and, curiously, increasing popularity of digital editions, which in turn leaves less magazines for mailing.

While salaries have decreased from last year in all three publishing markets, both consumer and association managers’ salaries have taken a notable tumble. Association managers have seen a $15,400 decrease from 2007, and consumer managers, who reported a $10,000 increase from 2006 to 2007, saw their salaries plummet $13,000 from 2007 to 2008. Those who worked on only one publication saw an increase from $45,200 to $51,800.

In their verbatims, some managers cited taking on more responsibility, with marketing tasks leading the pack. Besides additional responsibilities and a changing job description, one manager’s comments pointed out competing company goals as the greatest challenge. “We often have one department with cost savings and another with revenue and subscription production. These don’t always align. We waste time internally.”

Circulation Associate/Assistant

Based on survey data from 2007 and this year’s report, we can say that salaries at this level are relatively flat in the b-to-b and consumer markets—associate-level positions reporting in the association publishing market were too few to count this year. Compensation across b-to-b and consumer markets are relatively equal, as they are at the manager level—salary disparity doesn’t really show until the director level, with higher salaries reporting in the consumer field.

Across the company and title revenue categories that have showed great disparity at the manager and director levels, associate circulation professional salaries are closer to parity. For example, associates working in companies with more than $10 million in revenue only make about $3,300 more than their counterparts at companies with less than $10 million in revenues. Geography, however, does count for something, with those in the Northeast making at least $4,600 more than their colleagues in other regions of the country. Likewise, drilling down to a comparison between those in the New York City area and those that are not shows a $4,600 difference in favor of New York.

Once again, the gender gap is pronounced, with males making, on average, $4,000 more than females. Data is incomplete from previous years’ surveys, so no meaningful comparison could be made to see if the gap has increased or decreased.

When asked about the biggest challenges circulation associates and assistants face, many replies indicated time constraints; an increasing need to “acquire Web and digital skills”; and workload, particularly putting systems in place for a digital positioning of the brand.

And when asked about industry trends that could affect personal compensation during the next year, perhaps unsurprisingly, respondents pointing out trends that could adversely affect salaries outnumbered those that mentioned positive trends. One respondent noted, “I think the cultural and societal shift to online media and less print will affect the company more and more, decreasing revenue, jobs and pay. We’re trying to keep up, but the budget isn’t there to purchase the technology needed to do so.”

Methodology

The survey sample of 2,000 was selected in a systematic, stratified fashion by Red 7 Media and Readex Research from Circulation Management subscribers qualified under any job title classification other than fulfillment director/manager, list rental director/manager, renewal or billing director/manager, circulation consultant, or costumer service director/manager. The sample represented 5,138 individuals meeting this criteria at the time of selection. Data was collected via mail survey from August 12 to September 24, 2008. The survey was closed for tabulation with 605 responses (a 30 percent response rate). To ensure representation of the audience of interest, results have been filtered to include only the 477 respondents who indicated they work full time and their job functions are best described as circulation director or top circulation executive; circulation manager; circulation associate/assistant. The margin of error for percentages based on all 477 respondents is + / - 4.2 percent at the 95 percent confidence level.