Resolute & NewPage Raise NBHK Prices, NBSK Unchanged

Resolute Forest Products (Resolute) announced to North American customers today that its bleached hardwood kraft (BHK) market pulp prices would increase while northern bleached softwood kraft (NBSK) would be unchanged, effective December 1 until further notice.

NewPage announced to customers today that its northern bleached hardwood kraft (NBHK) pulp price would increase $20/tonne in North America, bringing the number of NBHK producers to recently slate December increases to three.  
Canfor Pulp informed US customers today that its northern bleached softwood kraft (NBSK) pulp price would be unchanged, effective Dec. 1 until further notice, industry contacts told RISI.

PWC: Q3 US & Candian Paper Co.s Earnings

http://www.pwc.com/ca/en/forest-paper-packaging/global-net-earnings-summary.jhtml

Canadian and U.S. forest and paper products companies reported an overall improvement in net earnings for the third quarter of 2012 compared to the second quarter, with timber, solid wood and packaging/tissue sectors posting generally better results than the pulp and graphic paper manufacturers. Lumber and panel prices were supported through the quarter by the continued improvement in U.S. housing starts. Pulp prices continued to decline through the quarter, but have likely bottomed. European companies’ earnings were down from the second quarter of 2012 reflecting a generally weak European market.

Voith CEO: Still Plenty of Life in Paper

Voith CEO: Still plenty of life in paper: The paper industry globally is about as diverse an industry as you can get - in mature regions there are plummeting grades in the shape of graphic papers that fill most producers with horror - whilst in places like India and China growth rates are into double figures. And then there is packaging, speciality papers and tissue, all grades that are showing healthy growth rates virtually everywhere.

Hearst: Still Bullish on Print

Hearst: Making Headway on Mobile but Still Bullish on Print:
Hearst Magazines has 800,000 paying app customers, and 80 percent of them are new to Hearst brands, making mobile devices, including tablets and smartphones, a major new business for the company—and for the magazine industry, Hearst president David Carey said last week at the Mashable Media Summit. 

Adweek's Hot List Print Winners

http://www.adweek.com/news/technology/hot-list-145630

Hot" is, of course, relative. We reserve the designation for those media brands and media people thriving despite competition, market forces and that bugaboo of every business: the ever elusive consumer. Across weeks, we studied factors including advertising business, audience numbers, category supremacy, creativity, innovation, industry accolades and social buzz.

Hot List 2012: Print Winners 

Some of the winners:

New York
Start spreading the news. Not only does editor Adam Moss’ New York still kill it week after week in print (eye-catching covers, provocative features), the pub keeps giving consumers more reason to go online, too. This year brought The Cut, the third blog spun off from nymag.com (following the smash culture monitor Vulture and foodie destination Grub Street). While other publishers struggle to monetize their online businesses, New York gets a phenomenal 40 percent of its revenue from digital, up from 20 percent four years ago.
HGTV Magazine (Hearst/Scripps)

Though barely a year old, HGTV Magazine has already built a towering following among both readers and advertisers. Like Hearst/Scripps’ other venture, Food Network Magazine, HGTV was a smash from day one. After selling out its October/November 2011 test issue (demand was so great that more copies had to be printed), the title launched in earnest this past May, shattering its initial rate base of 450,000. HGTV Magazine today averages 275,000 newsstand copies. Two more increases in rate base, to 800,000, are planned for 2013, while frequency will expand to 10 times per year.

Q3 Magazine Sales Details

http://campaign.r20.constantcontact.com/render?llr=tdw4l6dab&v=001J8BvtJGIt7uojsOTOb5KB_yPeK9hlgIM_ujxL0nGlEKcmOPuKNdh3sigCcP_fetCY3HOPEuREsqYQWHlyCNQMahxhNgSowV6xqGK5LgLkSYBj2tQh0sptjYeaXT9Aq9J3erH1d2sqG6wk7S840LxuGOBLQE9MHw-L-zng0kRQG6W8Xu1kMAfk_NBREj5kglFYQt6F9yEXiQ%3D

Among major monthly titles experiencing healthy growth were National Geographic (23.8%), Shape (9.5%), and Consumer Reports (7.0%). (Is it just a coincidence that National Geographic and Consumer Reports have also invested heavily in their web sites? Maybe digital and print are not enemies after all.)

 Sales for the Top 50 publications, which include most of the celebrity weeklies, were down 8.3%. But the next 50 actually increased their sales 7.4%. Nearly one-third of the Top 100 enjoyed increases, according to MagNet.

 Another favorable trend: Less waste. Publishers responded to weakening newsstand sales by distributing 64 million fewer copies than they did a year ago, including a 15.7% reduction for weeklies. But because unit sales did not decline as much as the reduction in draw, the proportion of newsstand copies that were sold increased by nearly 2 percentage points for the weeklies and nearly 1 percentage point for the non-weeklies.

Modest Ad Growth Predicted for 2013

http://www.mediapost.com/publications/article/188262/zo-groupm-predict-ad-spend-hits-574b-by-2015.html#axzz2E0asMOC2

Top forecasters said Monday they expect modest ad-spending growth over the next few years. Predictions were offered by ZenithOptimedia, GroupM and Magna Global at the UBS Global Media & Communications Conference in New York Monday. (See separate story on Magna forecast).
Global ad spending will pick up a little steam in the future, according to Publicis Groupe’s ZenithOptimedia. Spending will climb from 4.1% growth in 2013 for a total of $518 billion to 5.6% growth in 2015, reaching $574 billion.

Sports Illustrated with 3 New Books

http://www.mediapost.com/publications/article/188308/sports-illustrated-debuts-3-new-sports-books.html#axzz2E0asMOC2 
Sports Illustrated is known for both its extensive game coverage and extraordinary photography. To extend the franchise, Sports Illustrated has published three new books that feature: the NFL’s greatest players of all time; the league’s most successful franchise; and an inside look at professional boxing.

Redesign of Glamour.com

Glamour.com Sees Social-Focused Redesign:
In March, Condé Nast’s Glamour magazine reintroduced itself to the world with a redesigned publication. The idea for the redesign, editor-in-chief Cindi Levie told FOLIO: in an interview, came from a need to update the magazine to reflect the desires and personalities of contemporary women.

New Era of Hybrid Media

Edelman’s Rubel: Get Ready for a New Era of Hybrid Media:
If traditional marketers are like zebras, and media companies are like elephants, then the media world of the future will be nearly completely mixed up, creating “zebelephants,” said Steve Rubel, EVP/Global Strategy of Edelman.
Rubel, speaking at the Mashable Media Summit in New York last week, described a world where marketers and media companies have taken on the characteristics of the other, and where media companies, in order to thrive in a new environment, need to embrace the new structure.

New Corp's CEO Resigns

New Corp's chief executive resigns:
Mockridge's resignation was confirmed by News Corp yesterday. Chairman Rupert Murdoch said his "decision to step down is absolutely and entirely his own".After Mockridge was parachuted in by News International following the resignation of Rebekah Brooks, many considered him a likely candidate to lead News Corp's new publishing arm.However, the Wall Street Journal reported that "people familiar with the matter" had said its own managing editor, Robert Thomson, could be named as head of the corporation's publishing arm this week.

Consumers Favor Print & TV Ads to Digital

Consumers Continue to Favor Offline Ads; Most Digital Formats Lose Ground: A new consumer attitude study finds that even in this digital-centric climate, Americans are likely to view offline media ads most favorably -- while most digital formats have experienced a decrease in favorability. The 2012 AdReaction study, focusing on consumer opinions and perceptions of advertising, finds that even in this digital-centric climate, U.S. consumers are likely to view offline media ads most favorably -- with TV viewed in a positive light by 49% of respondents, followed by magazine ads (41%), and newspaper ads (40%).