You’re no doubt fully aware that your favorite edition of Vogue is not the same as it once was four years ago. The magazine has either cut frequency like American Vogue, been re-titled à la Vogue Paris to Vogue France or the magazine now has a head of editorial content installed at the top, as opposed to a high-flying and highly-paid editor-in-chief. Sharing content across multiple editions is now a standard practice. Vogue isn’t the only Condé Nast publication to take a hit over recent years either – Glamour is now digital-only and Vanity Fair has cut frequency.
Reports surfaced yesterday (via WWD), despite Condé Nast undergoing such measures, the company has encountered a massive profit slump – including print and subscription sales (down 21% to 42.4 million pounds within a 12-month period, while ad revenues were broadly flat at 211.8 million pounds). These figures refer to Condé’s business in the United Kingdom, Germany, France, Italy and Spain, where it publishes more than 30 editions of titles including Vogue, Vanity Fair, GQ, Architectural Digest, Wired and Condé Nast Traveller. Given the state of the economy, you simply cannot blame Condé Nast for cutting costs left, right and center but when it’s at the cost of creativity – we, here at theFashionSpot, have some serious questions.
It didn’t take long for members of our forums to share their two cents worth. “What an unpredictable and shocking turn of events. Profits plummet? Gee, I can’t imagine why,” voiced aracic.
“I guess the new CEO’s plan wasn’t as good or as hot as he thought it would be. It’s not as if we all here [at theFashionSpot] talked about it for months but I guess now that they have the numbers Condé Nast might want to do something about it. However, with Anna’s Wintour’s grip I won’t keep my hopes up,” Bertrando3 chimed in.
“Wow, a decline by 21% in print sales is a lot! I know I contributed to that by not buying their magazines anymore, where I used to buy at least 3 or 4 issues from various countries each month before. Hope it wakes them up!” commented liberty33r1b.
Xone added: “We all buy less of the different issues of Vogue. It’s not only the shared content but as a product, Vogue decreased quality as well, and I hope they do something about it because generating buzz or likes is not going to be be enough!”
“I’m conflicted over the news. Part of me will always and forever want print to stay, but the other half wants Condé Nast to be punished and reprimanded so hard for what the suits (and Anna Wintour) inflicted upon my beloved Vogue Paris. In all honesty, I will never EVER forgive them,” exclaimed vogue28.
Share your own two cents on Condé Nast’s profit slump and read more insightful commentary from our forum members over on theFashionSpot forums, here.
