We recently received a letter from a man who had just discovered D Home. He told us he liked the magazine very much but was troubled by all of the ads he “had to plow through” to get to the editorial. “Would it be possible to have fewer ads?” he inquired.
Obviously, as a magazine publisher, I like ads. And to our new and precious reader, Mr. Allan, I say: You are correct. We have an enormous amount of advertising in D Home. The wonderful reality for us is that our ads work. A majority of D Home readers actually place as much value on the advertising as they do on the editorial. People looking for a builder, a water feature for their backyard, or an antique commode for their entryway love to look through the magazine for available options, who sells what, and for how much.
But I also want to assure you that for every ad page, roughly speaking, we create an editorial page. We generally run about 55 percent advertising—so for every 5.5 pages of advertising, we produce 4.5 pages of editorial. (In this issue, for example, we have 52 percent advertising.) So while it may feel as though there is an overabundance of ads, there really are fewer than the national magazines, which average approximately 60 percent advertising.
Here is some even more dramatic math. I was discussing this matter with our production director, Diane Dishman, and we decided to see what our business would look like without advertising. We discovered that we would have to charge $39.24 an issue on the newsstand, just to print the magazine and keep the lights on. A year’s worth of issues would cost $274.68! That’s what the research, writing, photography, art, and printing costs are to produce a magazine of this caliber.
So, yes, I like the ads in D Home. I like them because they represent the best home and garden companies in the city. I like them because they allow our editors to produce an award-winning magazine. And I like them because they make D Home affordable to all of our valued readers. Stick with us, Mr. Allan. We have wonderful magazines planned for the year ahead. Enjoy this issue, and let me hear from you.
Christine Allison
President, D Magazine Partners, Ltd.
[email protected]
