Four Mills Announce Newsprint Price Hike

Four North American newsprint producers - two in the East and two in the West - have announced $40/tonne price increases effective July 1 on shipments of 30-lb (48.8 gsm) newsprint, with other basis weights increased accordingly.

The four companies' combined capacity accounts for about a third of overall newsprint production capacity in North America.
The first company to announce, White Birch, informed its customers of the hike on May 30. Kruger, Norpac and Howe Sound have all announced similar increases of their own this week.

Domtar and PrintEco, Promoting Responsible Paper Usage

http://www.domtar.com/en/investors/pressreleases/index.asp?location=SecondaryNav

Domtar Corporation (NYSE: UFS) (TSX: UFS) today announced its partnership with PrintEco, whose free personal use software optimizes paper use for today's most popular applications. Seamlessly integrated with Microsoft Office, Internet Explorer, Firefox, & Chrome, PrintEco allows users to easily practice responsible paper usage, while also saving time and money. 
As part of the agreement, Domtar will be the exclusive paper company sponsor of PrintEco's flagship product, which led to PrintEco being named one of Entrepreneur Magazine's 100 Brilliant Companies. Domtar EarthChoice(®) messaging incorporated into the program will allow PrintEco users to learn how their responsible choices made throughout the fiber lifecycle can lead to a more sustainable world.

SFI Begins Revision of Standards

http://www.sfiprogram.org/sfi-standard/introduction-to-the-standard/standard-development-process1/

Today, the Sustainable Forestry Initiative Inc.® (SFI®) launched the process of revising its current standard to develop the SFI 2015-2019 Standard, reaching out to more than 10,000 stakeholders for input.  Currently 240 million acres (100 million hectares) are third-party certified to the SFI 2010-2014 Standard on public and private lands.

China Closing More Capacity

China to decommission outdated paper capacities

There is a need to close several facilities with an annual capacity of less than 51,000 tons

The government of China has officially announced  the reduction of outdated capacities for production of paper and cardboard by 4.55 million tons.
Such a decision is part of the earlier announced plans of the Chinese Ministry of Industry and Information Technology to close up to 19 production facilities from different segments of the country’s industrial production, including pulp and paper.

Sappi Names Printers of the Year

Sappi Fine Paper North America Announces Printers of the Year Gold...:
Sappi Fine Paper North America today announced the 10 gold winners of its 16th North American Printers of the Year awards for 2012-2013. These distinguished winners were chosen as the most outstanding print submissions from approximately 1800 entries this year. The 10 gold winners receive $20,000 as well as 5,000 lbs of paper towards supporting marketing and brand initiatives.

China's Logs and Lumber Imports Up 10%

http://www.fortmilltimes.com/2013/06/05/2738640/wood-resources-international-llc.html

China’s hunger for wood was less acute in 2012 than in the previous year. In particular, importation of softwood logs fell substantially from the record levels of 2011. Importation of lumber was also lower in 2012, but the decline was much less than that of logs. The biggest changes in log and lumber imports between 2011 and 2012 were the sharp decline of Russian log volumes crossing the Chinese border and the reduced lumber shipments from the US to Chinese ports, as reported in the Wood Resource Quarterly. During the first four months of 2013, import volumes of both logs and lumber picked up and were 12 percent and 19 percent higher, respectively, than in the same period in 2012.

Circulation Strategies to Improve Catalog Response Rates

http://www.retailonlineintegration.com/article/how-many-times-do-consumers-get-mailing-catalog-before-they-buy/1
Q: "Could you share any ideas about how many times consumers should get a mailing/catalog before they're likely to feel some brand recognition and buy? Is it better to send people the same/similar catalog a second time after a couple of months? Or send the catalog and then follow up with just a mailing/letter? Any information gratefully received." — Caroline Saunders, head of marketing, Dreamgenii
A: Will catalog response improve over time to rented prospecting names based on sending the same prospect multiple catalogs? The answer is no. Lots of catalogers mail the same prospecting universe of names multiple times, so there's quite a bit of data out there on the results of multiple catalog mailings to the same households. The most typical response to mailing the same profitable universe of rented names multiple times is that the list either responds the same time after time or the list shows a softening in response as buyers are culled from the list. It's rare for a catalog list to show an increase in response rates over time.

Housing Recovery Boosts Home Magazines

http://adage.com/article/media/seeking-shelter-housing-recovery-boosts-mags/241827/ 
Publishers are heading into summer optimistic about a housing recovery that's restoring confidence -- and spending -- to advertisers in the home category. 
Last week, Standard & Poor's Case-Shiller home-price index posted its biggest gains in seven years. Other indicators, such as building permits and new and existing home sales, are also showing promise. “The boost in spending from the house category has been new,” said Lucy Schmidt, print director at media-buying agency Empower MediaMarketing. “That's a direct reflection of the housing market.” 
Ad pages in the national shelter-magazine category climbed 7.2% in the second quarter, buoyed by an 8.7% increase in June issues over the year prior, driving year-to-date growth of 6%, according to the Media Industry Newsletter. Monthly magazines overall saw ad pages drop 0.9% in the second quarter, following a flat first quarter, MIN's data show.
Hearst's HGTV magazine, which published its first issue in June/July last year, ran 91.28 ad pages in its June issue this year, a 76.6% increase. Some of that growth is a new magazine expanding from a relatively small base, but Empower's Ms. Schmidt said it also reflects a trend in home advertising toward do-it-yourself projects.

Delias Sells Alloy Business

http://www.businessweek.com/ap/2013-06-04/delias-sells-alloy-business-for-3-dot-7m-plus-debt

Teen apparel retailer Delias Inc. has sold its Alloy business to an investor group for $3.7 million in cash and the assumption of $3.1 million in liabilities.

Under the terms of the deal, Delias also agreed to provide transition services to the investor group, which will operate the brand under a new company called Alloy Apparel and Accessories.
Brian Lattman, one of the investors who led the Alloy acquisition, will be president of the new company. He most recently worked as chief merchandising officer at LANY LLC.
Shares in Delias ended regular trading down 2 cents, or 2.7 percent, to 91 cents. The stock has declined 23 percent this year.

Newsweek Subscribers, Circulation Fell By Half In Three Years

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/06/04/newsweek-circulation-subscription-numbers_n_3383326.html?utm_hp_ref=media

The Pew Research Center painted a grim portrait of Newsweek's numbers on Monday, on the heels of Tina Brown's announcement that the magazine is exploring a sale.

Newsweek lost more than half of its subscribers between 2007 and 2010, plunging from 3,077,771 subscribers to 1,535,930. Ad pages also declined 60 percent from 2002 to 2012.

Consumer Magazine Market Predicted to Shed $1.3B by 2017

http://www.adweek.com/news/press/consumer-magazine-market-predicted-shed-13b-2017-150014

The narrative behind the magazine industry has remained steady for a while—newsstand is down, circulation is flat, and digital is growing but tiny—and according to PwC's new Entertainment & Media Outlook 2013-2017, the financial future of publishing will reflect that decline.

PwC's report, set to be released Wednesday, estimates that the U.S. consumer magazine market will be worth $23 billion in 2017, down from $25 billion in 2012. The market has bounced back slightly since the recession (total magazine revenue fell 15.8 percent in 2009 alone), but PwC predicts that it will drop again as print circulation falls and marketers continue to abandon the medium.
Over the next four years, expect to see even more advertisers abandon print. PwC estimated that consumer magazine advertising will fall to $15.2 billion in 2017 from $16.4 billion in 2012. Advertising now accounts for 67 of total consumer magazine revenue—up from 62 percent in 2009, when it declined in line with the recession.

World Press Trends

http://themediaonline.co.za/2013/06/world-press-trends-increasing-audience-engagement-is-future-for-news-media/

Print newspaper circulations continued to rise in Asia and decline in mature markets in the West, while digital advances have increased the audience for newspaper content as never before, the annual World Press Trends survey of the World Association of Newspapers and News Publishers (WAN-IFRA) showed.

But the growth on digital platforms is not being followed by consequent growth in advertising revenues. An analysis of the World Press Trends data shows that news sites enjoy high readership, but the level of reader engagement is low.
The data showed:
More than half the world’s adult population read a daily newspaper: 2.5 billion in print, more than 600 million in digital form.
The newspaper industry generates more than US$200 billion of revenue annually. Newspaper circulation declined only -0.9% globally in 2012 from a year earlier, as rising circulations in Asia offset circulation losses elsewhere.
Circulation declined over one year by -6.6 % in North America, -5.3 per cent in western Europe, -8.2 per cent in eastern Europe, and -1.4% in the Middle East and North Africa. It increased +1.2% in Asia, +3.5% in Australia and New Zealand, and +0.1% in Latin America.
And more...

F+W Media Launches E-Commerce

F+W Media: In 2008, e-commerce was far from the buzzword status it enjoys these days. But that’s the year enthusiast publisher F+W Media launched its e-commerce business, which has now ballooned to include more than 30 digital shops serving its audience that spans from the U.S. to the U.K and beyond.

SourceMedia Video Boosts Rates

SourceMedia Adds Video Commercial to Subscription Page:  Financial services media company SourceMedia recently incorporated a short video commercial into its subscription page for flagship title American Banker. The 53-second spot, created in-house, has boosted conversion rates by 10 percent in its first two weeks on the page.

All You Available on Tablets

M-Commerce: Time Inc.’s All You has added shoppable capabilities to its tablet edition. Starting with the May issue, customers using an iPad or Kindle Fire can tap a “shop now” icon to see where the product is for sale with a direct link to purchase.

Dwell President on AR Commerce

AR-Commerce: Augmented reality has had success enhancing content and advertising, but many, including Michela O’Connor Abrams, president of Dwell Media, believe its real value lies in e-commerce.
Dwell, a modern design title, partnered with e-retailer AHAlife to produce what the companies are calling “the first truly shoppable magazine” last fall.