BROOKFIELD, CT — Blame it on the rise of social media, cheap tablet computers, attention deficit disorder or all three, but the circulation of traditional magazines in the U.S. is in decline.
Trade industry research site Wordsrated projects that global print magazine and newspaper revenues will drop over 13 percent from 2023’s $127.20 billion to $110.60 billion by 2027. In the three-year run-up to 2022, total audiences for magazine companies have decreased by over 38 percent.
Fiercely and successfully bucking that trend is Brookfield paper-only magazine publisher Lauren Buzzeo. Full Pour, her quarterly dedicated to drinking culture, has been racking up attention since receiving the FOLIO Eddie Award for Best Magazine Launch following its debut in March.
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The shift of magazines from coffee tables to iPads “is great, and needed, and certainly a part of our lives now” Buzzeo said, “but it doesn’t really speak to that transformative experience, that getaway, that ‘me-time,’ that a really quality print magazine can give you.”
Buzzeo worked for nearly 16 years at Wine Enthusiast, the leading periodical intended for oenoculture obsessives. But specialty mags like that, Decanter and Wine & Spirits are only giving a sip of the drink culture story. Full Pour covers the whole elbow-bending experience, across all categories, Buzzeo said.
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“I think now it’s actually a bit of a detriment, to not be covering the way that consumers are generally drinking today, whether that’s beer, spirits, wine, non-alcohol proxies, or even just extending that to coffee or tea or cannabis infused drinks.”
Over the past decade, magazine makers have wrestled with how best to cater to both their traditional paper readership and the growing digital fanbase. They’re still wrestling, Buzzeo said, and too many publishers “lost a bit of their heart and soul” in their attempts to reinvent their monetization model.
The Brookfield publisher has positioned Full Pour as a “print first” magazine. A small sampling of the articles will eventually make their way onto the website — along with subscriptions, back issues and merch — but if you want to read more, you will need to subscribe or visit the newsstand.
“We want people to have that escape from the noise, from the blue screen, from the constant distraction that they already get with all the hours we spend in screens every day. ”
She also wants people to support their local nonprofit organizations. Full Pour’s “Flow Into Community” program spotlights non-profit groups working within the beverage and hospitality space with a free full page ad. The magazine also creates a “community grapevine” for the organization, similar to a Kickstarter page, but for nonprofits and donations.
“A big tenet of the magazine is supporting community and building community,” Buzzeo said.
At the top of that list of communities to support is Brookfield. The publisher said she has reached out to a few of the local artists showcased at the Brookfield Library and is hoping to use their work in Full Pour.
Digital magazines have one other advantage over their paper peers: no trees are killed in production. On the opposite end of the green spectrum are the big, glossy coffee-table magazines, hardly the poster children for an eco-friendly future. But Full Pour is different, Buzzeo contends.
The publication uses 100 percent post-consumer waste recycled paper, without any of the laminates that might affect the continued lifecycle of the product. Buzzeo told Patch the process affords a “more natural, sort of matte, texture and feel to the publication.” The look-and-feel has been a hit with readers and reviewers, and she predicts that more publishers will turn the experiment into a trend. She likens it to the resurgence of vinyl record albums.
There’s a “premium to be paid” for using non-traditional paper and inks, Buzzeo said, and the receipts so far have been steep.
“But is that one worth fighting for? If you believe in it? Is it one that I will stand behind? 100 percent? Absolutely.”
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