When Domino Media Group CEO Nathan Coyle was talking to Domino about its open CEO position last year, he wanted to ensure he could produce growth if he joined. He flipped through Domino magazine for inspiration, noticing people on nearly every page. Despite Domino’s reputation as a shelter title, talking home design, Coyle realized, “it’s also about the cool person that lives there.” He saw that as the opportunity.
Readers flock to the magazine in order to find tips and tricks for their home décor, but they also see the person living in the chic home. Coyle believed they want to know more about that person, whether it’s where she goes for brunch, where she works out or where she shops. It was an epiphany: Domino would “have license to extend into adjacent categories.” Coyle had his plan and he took the job.
It’s a realization that isn’t held by Coyle alone. Extending into new categories has become in vogue for shelter titles, or the magazines and websites that focus on the home, like Architectural Digest, This Old House or Dwell. By dipping a toe or leaping full-bore into lifestyle categories, like fashion, food, weddings and even business, these titles have found new advertisers, new readers and new content.
It’s one reason magazine shelter titles have outpaced the overall industry, growing readership by 2.7% compared to 2016, which easily surpasses the overall industry’s 1.9% growth rate, according to MPA, the Association of Magazine Media. It’s particularly noticeable on the web (excluding mobile), where shelter grew 3% as the overall industry declined by 11%.
Architectural Digest has become one of the best performing shelter magazines over the past year, according to the MPA, especially in regards to print readership. Its editor-in-chief, Amy Astley, moved there from Condé Nast sibling publication Teen Vogue a little over a year ago. Since, she has redesigned the pages and tweaked the tone. But like in the past, AD tackles many of the popular trends by showcasing the room where people gather to participate or enjoy the cultural phenomenon of the day.
“I’m not deep into wellness,” says Astley. “I don’t think fitness is at the core of what the reader comes to us for. But would I show a home gym? One-hundred percent.”
And that’s the way most shelter titles have long attacked other categories: by sticking to what they do best, and focusing on how homes change based on the way people live today. Greater focus on fresh food and families lead to more images of open kitchens. New fashion wear produces discussions about larger master closets. But the rise of online-centric content has allowed even AD to more directly target different categories.
more at: http://www.minonline.com/shelter-titles-step-out-of-the-home/