Hearst is bringing magazines to life with events focus

HearstHearst Magazines UK has organised Beauty Unbound with a group of Estée Lauder-owned brands and Westfield. Anna Jones, chief executive, calls this “dynamic distribution” – taking magazine brands to their audience and inviting some of their best advertising clients along too.

Events have been a major part of Hearst’s strategy as itseeks new revenue streams. “It’s about bringing a magazine to life – I think that’s going to grow,” Jones says. “And our commercial partners want an experiential version of the magazine.”

There is an urgent need to diversify at a time when magazine print sales continue to fall and digital fails to offset that decline. Hearst’s most recent UK accounts show pre-tax profits fell by a third to £8.7m and revenue dropped 5% to £296m. Monthly print and digital circulation declined 6.5% to fewer than three million copies. But events have shown growth. Jones expects Hearst’s revenues from events to double this year as it plans about 100 events for almost 100,000 people.

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