Landscape Juice

the New Day newspaper closure shows how out of touch printed media really is

About 15 years ago I bought shares in a British technology company. This company was developing software that is actually part of today's digital world. The problem is the company in question was ahead of its time and was poorly run. As a listed company there was an easy route at the time to raise funds through share placings. I built up a modest holding. The shares went up and I could have paid off my mortgage. I was 35 years of age. I didn't sell. I bought more as I was (wrongly) believing that the share price would go... Read more →

Something extraordinary is happening in respect of landscape industry news digestion

Anyone brought up before the birth of the internet had no choice but to digest news the way others wanted to present it. Manipulated headlines, misguided comment and erroneous reporting contrived to deliver a propaganda that only served up an extremely distorted view purporting to be fact. Of course many people would speculate on what truth lay beneath a story but very few had an opportunity to sway its effect. Luckily today we have a much more honest and direct means with which to peddle news and information. Also, we don't have to tolerate being pushed propaganda from organisations that... Read more →

Printed media in home interests takes a hit in 2015

For those still holding on to the hope that printed media is still a formidable force might be shocked to see the latest ABC figures for consumer magazines (Jan-June 2015). Mediatel reports how home interest magazine have taken big hits as readers continue their departure from printed media in preference of online sites. The first half of 2015 saw almost every title record declines in combined print and digital circulations in the home interest market. Home Interest Ideal Home, despite a period-on-period (PoP) decline of -6.8% and a year-on-year (YoY) decline of -11%, took the top spot with a total... Read more →

Industry press are as thick as thieves with its paymasters

I was extremely perturbed, but not surprised, to hear that Chief Political Editor of the Telegraph, Peter Oborne, resigned his position because of the conflict of interest between his employer's advertising objectives and its responsibility to report a true and honest story. On Peter Oborne's resignation, Our Kingdom said: "The coverage of HSBC in Britain's Telegraph is a fraud on its readers. If major newspapers allow corporations to influence their content for fear of losing advertising revenue, democracy itself is in peril. Landscape industry press can also be accused of only running with positive stories. There can be only one... Read more →

It is official - the internet overtakes printed media

Using the internet is now officially as popular as reading a newspaper, says Ofcom. Some 41% of people say they now access news on websites and apps, up significantly from 32% in 2013. Forty percent say that they read newspapers to follow the news, which is unchanged year on year. Also, the internet has overtaken the radio (36%) to catch-up on the news. Sixteen to twenty-four year olds are driving the surge in consuming news on the internet or apps, with 60% doing so in 2014, up from 44% last year. Some 45% of 16-24s said that websites or apps... Read more →

Printed media ad sales got a boost in 2013

Figures from across the pond have shown that ad revenues generated from glossy magazines were boosted by 1% in 2013. What is most interestesting though is that the extra revenues came from tablet versions of publications rather than the actual printed paper copies. The actual number of printed ad pages dropped 4% (2012 -8%). The Association of Magazine Media reports Print category gainers for 2013 include: “Food and Food Products” up in revenue (+6.7%) and up in pages (+1.2%), “Drugs and Remedies” up in revenue (+6.0%) and up in pages (+2.1%), “Home Furnishings and Supplies” up in revenue (+5.6%) and... Read more →

Pro Landscaper forced to remove untrue distribution claim

Pro Landscaper has been forced to remove a claim that its magazine is sent to the entire membership of the Society of Garden Designers. In a joint statement with the SGD issued yesterday, publisher James Pembroke said: It has come to our attention that ProLandscaper have been claiming to advertisers that their magazine goes to all SGD members. We can confirm that this is wholly untrue. Jim Wilkinson, the publisher of ProLandscaper has written to Juliet Seargent, the chairman of the SGD, to confirm that they have never been given the membership list, so can never have reached all our... Read more →

Landscape Juice soars into 2013

I'm delighted to say that 2013 has started off extremely positively for Landscape Juice. Despite constant pressure from sites such as Facebook, LinkedIn and Google Plus, Landscape Juice continues to add members and increase its traffic. Membership currently stands at 2964 with over three new members, on average, joining each day since Christmas. As you can see from the graphic, over 1,500 people visited the Landscape Juice Network on the 02 January 2013 but traffic had increased to just shy of 1,800 visitors by the end of Monday 07 January. We even had 697 visitors across both sites on Christmas... Read more →

External Works plans 25th anniversary edition

The digital revolution continues to be a nightmare for traditional media. It seems everywhere one looks tells a tale of diminishing readerships and financial loss closing long established titles. There's no doubt about it that the internet has been the demise of many previously strong businesses: everyone's a publisher or aggregator these days. It's quite unusual for me to find a story that appears to be bucking the trend. In a recent blog post, External Works - a directory of products from landscaping and design through to street furniture and engineering - revealed the results of a recent survey which,... Read more →

Hort Week loses more subscribers

Figures from the independent audit organisation, ABC, show that Haymarket Publishing's Horticulture Week continued to lose paying subscribers in the last twelve months. Despite still quoting outdated 2009/10 circulation figures of 7,323 on its advertising page, Hort Week - which now publishes bi-weekly - sold just 831 copies at full rate with a further 2,925 discounted by up to 50%. Total average net circulation fell from 6,802 to 6295 in the period period 01 July 2011 to 30 June 2012. Here's a summary breakdown 2011/12 with 20010/11 in (brackets) Total average net circulation per issue: 6,295 (6,802) Single copy subscription... Read more →