Magazines are nowhere near death's door despite widespread gloom and a surge in online advertising revenues, the head of publishing group Future stressed today as the company posted strong half-year results.
Stevie Spring - who has spent the last year turning around the home of specialist magazines such as Classic Rock and Digital Camera - said online revenues were growing fast but that no-one should "write off magazines".
"There are some things that you want to read on the bog, in the bath, in bed ... and there are some things where you just want a quick fact or just want a review or want to add your view to an online forum," she said.
"More people bought more magazines in 2006 than at any point in the last two decades. It proves that the habit of buying and reading magazines is not dead."
Ms Spring, who joined Future as chief executive from Clear Channel last summer, was speaking after unveiling first-half results showing Future swung back into profit thanks to improved margins and a stronger focus on online.
The group has gone through an overhaul since last summer and for the six months to March 31 it notched up pre-tax profits of £8.6m.
That compares with a loss of £1.6m a year earlier. Future has paid off a quarter of the debt it had a year ago and has seen circulation pick up for the bulk of its magazines business, which spans more than 100 regular titles including Cross Stitcher, DVD Review and Disney Girl.
"I'm really pleased with where we are," said Ms Spring. "I think we are in a much better place than a general media company."
She flagged up the fact that Future's specialist audiences lend themselves to interactive websites that can attract solid advertising revenues, although she thinks that "no-one has got the business model for online cracked yet".
But Ms Spring added: "Because of our historical specialism in small groups of like-minded people who use Future's experts to build communities around, we are at the forefront for building these business models."
Ms Spring said online projects would continue to need constant improvements and that Future was investing a net £5.7m in this fiscal year.
The increased focus on websites has already started to pay off, with online advertising now making twice the contribution to overall revenues it did a year ago. Internet advertising is up 66% from a year ago and now constitutes 12% of total advertising revenues.
Future, which is chaired by media veteran Roger Parry, also announced it was appointing Espotting co-founder Seb Bishop as a non-executive director.
The market welcomed Future's results and its shares were still up 3.25p, or 8.2%, at 42.75p in late trading.
"We are encouraged by progress to date and by the momentum evident in today's results," said Altium Securities analyst Roddy Davidson, raising his recommendation on the shares to "add" from "reduce".
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