The Strategy Behind Source Media’s Circ Increase

B-to-b publisher extends its reach without raising rate base.

By Chandra Johnson-Greene
Monday, March 30, 2009

Increasing the circulation of a magazine during a time when many publishers are doing the exact opposite may seem a bit strange—but not to Source Media.

The New York City-based b-to-b publisher announced in March that it would more than double the circulation of Traders Magazine from 7,100 to 15, 000, and almost triple the circ of Securities Industry News from 3,500 to 10,000. The rate base for both titles, however, will remain the same.

According to Robert Whitaker, EVP and managing director of Source’s Business Technology and Securities division, the timing couldn’t be better. “In the trading space, there’s been a lot of cutbacks,” he told AD. “Some of the other books, like Trader Monthly, closed down, so it was a great time to increase Traders’ reach into the community and, at the same time, provide more value to my advertisers. And we’re doing this without slighting quality.”

Whitaker stresses that it’s important for publishers—in the b-to-b space, especially—to view their audiences as “communities,” facilitate the conversation between the people in those communities, and make those communities as large as possible. He says the increase in circ gives Traders and SIN a wider reach and a higher level of engagement.

The community view that Whitaker describes has translated well to the online space, too. Source launched a daily email blast to readers of Traders to keep them informed of the daily changes going on in their industry and, as a result, the number of unique visitors and page views rose by 25 percent and 20 percent, respectively, between January and February 2009.

Whitaker adds that the decision to go against the grain and raise the circ of Traders and SIN puts them at an advantage in the future. “As things turn around, you’re going to see competitors trying to come back to what they did before,” he says. “But Traders already has 60 percent of the ad market—we’ve managed to solidify ourselves as number one for our advertisers in terms of value, quality content and community.”