How To Be A Critic

If somebody were to hold a poll asking journalists to name the greatest living critics, two of the names in contention would be Fay Maschler and Irving Wardle. On Tuesday, 14th May both of them were on the panel for this event The Bloomsbury. They discussed how to be a critic, who does it best, what qualities are needed and why it still matters, even in the age of user reviews. The full speaker line-up was:

FAY MASCHLER

Fay has been the restaurant critic of the Evening Standard ever since she won the role in a competition in 1972. The current editor of the Standard, George Osborne, is the 11th she has worked for. Her incisive reviews have helped the London restaurant scene transform itself from limited, verging on moribund, to diverse and dynamic. 

IRVING WARDLE

Irving was the chief theatre critic for The Times from 1963 to 1989, before moving to The Independent On Sunday, where he was one of several star writers on the late lamented Sunday Review. He knows so much about reviewing plays, he wrote the book (Theatre Criticism, Routledge, 1992). He was the first critic to spot the talent of Harold Pinter, who sent a thank-you letter describing Irving's review as "most penetrating".

LUCY MANGAN

Lucy is the TV critic for G2, the daily magazine from The Guardian. A columnist for Stylist as well as The Guardian, she is the author of Bookworm: A Memoir of Childhood Reading (Square Peg, 2018), which led The Spectator to declare that "Lucy Mangan has enough comic energy to power the National Grid".

 GAVIN GREEN

A former editor of Car magazine, Gavin is now motoring editor of High Life magazine and a freelance car critic. He is perhaps the only member of our panel who has the power to lower a share price.

 CHAIR: TIM DE LISLE

Now in his second stint as a member of the BSME committee, Tim is the pop critic of Event magazine at The Mail On Sunday. As a former arts editor of The Times and The Independent On Sunday, he has had some practice at keeping critics in order.

What Lies Ahead For Magazine Brands in 2019?

Seven things we learnt

 It was a full house for our first BSME event of 2019 - ‘What lies ahead for magazines and brands?’ on 24th January at the House of Hearst. Three excellent speakers - Douglas McCabe (Enders), Rebecca Ironside (Made You Think!) and Claire Sanderson (Women’s Health) - challenged, surprised and inspired the audience in equal measure. If you couldn’t make it along, here are seven key take-outs from the night:

• Time spent on UK magazine websites doubled between 2015 and 2018 (from 500m minutes to 1000m minutes). But this is still dwarfed by the digital heavyweights, such as Instagram and Youtube. To put it into context, the total time spent on UK magazine sites is equivalent to just one of the biggest lifestyle channels on Youtube. Gulp.

• Magazine brands need to master their customers’ data. Competing with every other digital brand for site traffic and a slice of direct-response digital advertising is unlikely to be a future recipe for success. Magazines have always been at their strongest when helping people to discover things at the top of the purchase funnel, not the bottom. To diversify revenue, magazine brands need to grow their communities of registered users, using the data to understand their needs and behaviours, and create the right things for the community (not chase the right things for advertisers).

• Subscription models are booming. Registration may be the first step, but we shouldn’t underestimate people’s willingness to pay for quality content. There are 600m consumer subscriptions for content, and the US has seen huge growth in people paying for online news in the past few years - this is not purely down to the ‘Trump bump.’ And younger audiences are actually more likely than older ones to pay for quality content...

• But data doesn’t tell us everything - curiosity is key. Overlooking the background of readers’ lives can lead to false assumptions. We should consider their whole lifestyle, not just their relationship with the magazine. And we shouldn’t forget that their expectations are set by what other digital brands are doing - not just other publishers. Your competition might not be who you think it is.

• Scrutinise your content using a ‘needs matrix’. Make time to truly understand your audience, and their various ‘need states’ from your brand (e.g. ‘entertain me’, ‘inspire me’, ‘reassure me’). Then screen all your types of content against those needs to see whether they’re really doing the job you think they are. Anything that isn’t is just filler.

• Audiences expect magazines to be a force for good. 86% of people in trust trackers believe brands should take a stand on social issues, and 62% are more likely to buy a product if they believe in its mission. Magazines can and should be driving positive change for readers and their wider communities.

• Well-judged brand extensions present big opportunities. The magazine itself is the starting point for building trust with your audience, but editorial teams are increasingly diversifying - for example, through product licensing, accreditation schemes, events and reader retreats. Hearst delivered more than 30 branded events in 2018, which generated more than £4m revenue (year-on-year growth of more than 150%). Country Living has even launched branded hotels.

** COMING UP NEXT: HOW TO LAUNCH YOUR OWN MAGAZINE **

Speakers include: winner of the 2018 BSME Mark Boxer Award and founder of MagCulture, Jeremy Leslie; Rob Orchard, owner of The Slow Journalism Company, Michael Harvey, editor of Road Rat and Vivien Jones,editor of Kookie and winner of the BSME Launch of the Year Award 2018.  The Panel will be moderated by BSME Chair Alex Mead.

Further details and how to book to follow.