Lisa Granatstein, "Mediaweek" editor: Mr. Media Interview, Pt. 2

(RETURN TO PART 1)

ANDELMAN: Being a man, I want to ask you about the men’s titles. Esquire is always interesting to me in that some issues, it seems brilliant from cover to cover. Other months, I can’t imagine what David Granger is thinking as editor in choosing his contents. Is it just me, or do other people feel that way?

GRANATSTEIN: Well, it’s funny you mentioned that. I think, you know, every editor is under a lot of pressure to try and retain readers, maybe get younger readers, and maybe there are certain stories that you are not the demo for. I’m not going to ask you your age, but really, I think that actually

David Granger has done a phenomenal job in finding writers like Tom Junod who write these unbelievable stories that are just riveting. They really, to me, they’re just a perfect magazine story. Editor is hit or miss, but I think overall, he’s doing a great job.

In fact, he just won a National Magazine Award this past week for, I believe it was feature writing, but I could be wrong….

ANDELMAN: I think that’s right. I think I saw that on the list.

GRANATSTEIN: So you know, every editor has a hit or miss, but I think actually David Granger is one of the better editors out there, and I wouldn’t be surprised one day if he’s running The New Yorker or a magazine like that.

ANDELMAN: Well, you have to go from one David to another. It’s kind of a tradition. What do you think will happen with the Dennis Publishing titles?

GRANATSTEIN: Well, that’s interesting. Obviously, they are up on the block, and they’ll be sold off. It remains to be seen who will actually pick them up, but there is a lot of private equity out there interested in buying them.

I think the real gem is Maxim, but the magazine, I’d say, is less hot than the brand itself.

It’s almost like a Playboy situation; it’s becoming so. There is a ton of different brands that they have in place. I think they have some bars or clubs in Vegas and other places. They have amazing Super Bowl parties. They used to have hair coloring, hair color treatments. I don’t know if they still do, but they’ve really got their brand out there. The magazine itself, it’s still popular, but it doesn’t have the heat it once did when laddie magazines were hot. And Stuff, I think, is like Maxim’s little brother. I never understood the need for Stuff, but there it is, and Blender tries. It can be a fun read as a music magazine, but it’s tough. It’s tough to do magazines these days in general.






ANDELMAN: Blender is one of those magazines when it shows up in the mail, I have to read it first. I don’t know. It’s funny. They are very clever. To me, it’s kind of the way Spy was in some ways, and there is all this stuff hidden in the corners and on the edges, and you really have to look at it carefully, but I know what you’re saying. Maxim’s hard, because unlike Esquire, you really can’t take it on the plane with you and read it, because you don’t know who you’re going to be sitting next to, and every page you turn to is another, oh, boy, I gotta turn this a little bit away.

GRANATSTEIN: Well, you know, at least they’re clothed; barely, but at least they’re clothed.

ANDELMAN: But sometimes that’s more trouble than… And one more question about the men’s magazines. Have we seen the last on Guccione, Sr., founder of Penthouse, and Guccione, Jr., who founded Spin?

GRANATSTEIN: Oh, well, Junior is busy working on Discover magazine.

ANDELMAN: Oh.

GRANATSTEIN: Yeah, like his father, who launched Omni years and years ago, he’s taken up the cause of science or the interest, and he’s been busy working away. He bought that magazine, I believe, a year ago, so he’s been busy with that. I’m sure, knowing him, he has a lot of other tricks up his sleeve. He’s always trying new things.

ANDELMAN: He’s a colorful guy.

GRANATSTEIN: Yeah, and Senior, I don’t think he’s all that well. He’s had a lot of issues with his health, and I think he’s been out of it for a little while in terms of being out of the publishing scene or the media scene, and I haven’t heard anything about him jumping back in.

ANDELMAN: Has the rehabilitation of Penthouse, is that an ongoing project?

GRANATSTEIN: Definitely an ongoing project, and it’s almost a shell of what it was. It can’t be what it was. It’s almost a little bit of Maxim and a little bit of Playboy, because there are nude photos, but they are done in more of a Playboy sensibility. It’s really not the Penthouse of your father.

ANDELMAN: Sadly or me.

GRANATSTEIN: Much, much smaller circulation. I think it really remains to be seen if they can make this a successful relaunch. That’s going to be a big challenge.

ANDELMAN: All right, I’ve indulged my interest in the men’s magazines enough. You mentioned the National Magazine Awards before, and they were really marked by a huge upset, it seemed, for New York magazine, and Time Warner magazines were shut out. Does any of this really matter outside of the industry?

GRANATSTEIN: No, you know what? It really doesn’t. It matters to the editors’ careers. It matters to the staff who work on it. It’s bragging rights. It’s a great thing, but does it translate into readership? Not really. We haven’t seen that connection. We’ve looked for it over the years. You know, New York magazine is great, one of my favorites, but yet as the advertising still remains down about 10 percent year to date, it really doesn’t have an effect. Maybe there will be some residual buzz, and that’ll help, because the magazines that were nominated and the ones that won are truly great magazines and deserve to get the advertising and the readers. It’s an industry event. I know that they are trying to jazz it up a lot in terms of bringing celebrities on board to hand out the awards and get more publicity, and maybe as that happens and more people watch it or read about it, rather, they’ll become more interested. But right now, it’s a nice industry event. It gives out really weird looking trophies, awards.

ANDELMAN: They are strange, aren’t they? Now, aside from the NMA winners, which publishing companies do you see as winners this year?

GRANATSTEIN: I think everybody’s really struggling. That’s a good question. I think Meredith is doing some interesting things. It’s really not on the publishing side. It’s what they are doing to try and translate their brands online. I think this year is a big building year. I think Conde Nast is doing a lot of new things. Again, in every instance, it remains to be seen how successful these things are going to be, but

Conde Nast launched Flip.com for teen girls. They have just invested in Portfolio. We’ll see how that works. There just seems to be more activity at Conde Nast. Hearst is also trying to get into many more online projects. They just launched The Daily Green, a green Web site.

So there is more effort at mobile and social networking and what have you… I really can’t tell you who is a winner this year.




ANDELMAN: We talked about TV Guide. What other magazines are withering and dying before our eyes?

GRANATSTEIN: Oh yikes. I hate going there.

ANDELMAN: Sorry.

GRANATSTEIN: No, it’s okay, it’s depressing. I think there are some magazines with challenges. I’m just looking through my little list right now. You know, nothing’s really on the verge of dying. There are ones that are struggling. I’ll tell you categories, I think, that might be cooling. How about that?

I think the celebrity category is going to cool. The teen titles are starting to cool; some have already died. The laddie category, some of those men’s books, have cooled, and a few have died. And the same with the parenting category. I think there is a lot of change happening.

Some magazines are being replaced by new ones, like in the parenting category, where Nick, Jr. Family, and Child and Bundle have all failed, and New Wave, Cookie, and Wonder Time have come on board and actually were even nominated for National Magazine Awards. They are a nice-looking magazine. Again, let’s see how they do in the long run, but there is a change afoot, and some of these magazines will be replaced by new, fresher vision, and others won’t be. They are just going to show up in some other form online.

ANDELMAN: Now, I mentioned Might, Seven Days, and Smart in my introduction. Where are tomorrow’s publishing stars working today, and are they more likely to move online rather than print in the years to come?

GRANATSTEIN: Well, now, that’s a good question. It’s really hard to say. I think there are some real publishing stars out there right now. Adam Moss, David Granger, and David Zinczenko is his own brand at Men’s Health

ANDELMAN: Final question, Lisa. What do you have in your own personal media pile, whether it be magazines or Web sites or TV shows? What do you have to have each week?

GRANATSTEIN: Oh, you’re going to hate my answer, but I have to have everything, and I want everything. I have the best job in the world. I sit at a desk with probably 200 magazines piled around me. Obviously, I’m in front of my computer with scores of bookmarks of media Web sites but also fun Web sites that I look at in my spare time. I watch a ton of TV. My DVR is always full. You name it, and I even try and listen to the radio a little bit, so I’m all media all the time.

ANDELMAN: Wow. Hey, wait a minute, that’s my line. Thanks for cluing me in to the job I want next!

© 2007 by Bob Andelman. All rights reserved.