Landscape and garden expert

Landscape Juice visitor statistics for February 2010

It's been just four years since Landscape Juice started out and it's fair to say that the first year of development contributed very little in the way of visitors.

It's a different story today and I'm delighted to say that February was a record month for Landscape Juice.

Consumer gardening magazine figures to December 2009

The six monthly ABC audited figures to 31st December 2009 have just been released, and they do not make good reading...I would even go as far as to say that they are brutal: for some publishers, these numbers must represent what must be right on the edge of financial viability?

What is wrong...are these severe declines due to editors not catering properly for their readership, is it the severe recession or is it the Internet?

All three grow-your-own mags (Kitchen Garden, Grow Your Own and Grow It) appear to be non ABC registered...combine that with the cancellation of the Edible Garden Show...what does this tell us about the grow your own fad?

Debate: where will printed publications fit into garden media?

What is the future of printed garden media? It's a question I have constantly asked on this blog over four years now and, to date, the subject has never really got the airtime it deserves.

I have to declare an interest; I have a website: it would appear - to a casual visitor or a magazine publisher - that I want to see the back of print at the earliest opportunity.

This is not the case: don't shoot the messenger: the truth will always out and now, I feel, is the right time to invite all interested parties into a debate.

2010 to be a bad year for horticulture print?

The title is a question but my opinion is much more definite: horticulture printed media is in for another poor year as the Internet secures more of advertising budgets.

PaidContent reports that Internet budgets were up for the second consecutive quarter in 2009 - the highest rise since the first quarter 2008.

The Internet took 10.4% and Search took 11.5% of ad spend - in contrast, printed media dropped by nearly 7% in Q4 2009 (18% Q3 2009).

Landscaper Magazine tells us how (they think) it is

David, David, David! I have just read your 'Happy Christmas' message on the Landscaper website and I have to say, I can really tell that you are one of the 'old school' when it comes to journalism.

"We are about to enter the last year of a decade dominated by solid growth and good trading for almost every part of the landscaping industry." Really, can you provide me and the rest of the landscaping industry with some evidence or proof to back up this claim?

IPC Media to restructure with redundancies to follow

It's been a poor week or so for the printed media industry and it is just about to get a whole lot worse after IPC Media announced a restructuring programme that will see its operation consolidate from five to three divisions.

Homes and Gardens, Amateur Photographer, Country Life and Amateur Gardening are just some of the titles within the IPC stable.

What next for Hort Week?

I tend to get a lot of emails sent to me from industry insiders and 'interested parties' with bits of gossip or pointing me to news items around the Internet. This week has been no exception but the emails have been a tad heavier than normal. Why? Because it involves Haymarket Publishing and the closure of one of its magazine titles - Media Week.

I follow Haymarket closely because it is the owner of Horticulture Week - a title that is not without its own problem of falling readership.

Does the gardening press need Google?

There's an interesting story developing out of News Corporation - Rupert Murdoch, the outspoken head of The Times and The Sun, has vowed to remove all of his companies' content from the Google search engine.

The Telegraph reports that it all centres around the 'free versus paid content' debate.

Jonathan Miller, News Corp's chief digital officer, said, 'there is real tension'.

Murdock argues that most of the traffic that arrives at his sites is wasted as the reader does not stay. Murdoch claims that there will be no commercial loss.

Social networks 'suck' magazine profits as readers click online

It seems as though 2008 was a pivotal year for magazine titles as readers turned to the Internet for their news and social networks.

Paid content reports on how titles have seen a massive change in fortune - Haymarket Publishing, the owner of Hort Week, saw its post tax profits fall by nearly 50% from £8m in 2007 to £4.5m in 2008.

Hort Week has seen a fall in magazine subscribers by nearly 1,000 in the last year - source ABC.

The Landscape magazine audited circulation - 18.3% drop?

The Landscaper magazine's ABC audited circulation figures have finally been released.

I am not sure why it has taken quite so long because the circulation date which was used for the audit was the 18th May 2009 - ABC didn't release the Landscaper certificate until the 4th November 2009.