2009 Tally

Trends and Analysis:

Braving the storm

New magazine starts in the Masthead 2009 Tally are down considerably from previous years, as expected. The 2008 Tally noted 74 launches, in 2009 there is a total of 17. This also marks the first time in the past 10 years of the Tally with more magazine stops than starts.

The number of magazine closures stayed close to the 2008 totals, with 37 books closing. Of those, at least seven continue to publish online.

Moving online

Some publishers brought their print titles online rather than pulling the plug entirely in 2009. Brave Words & Bloody Knuckles, Chart and Unlimited are three consumer titles that closed print editions but continued online in 2009. 

Trade magazines got in on the trend as well, with CLB Media’s Green Business, Logging Management, Mill Product News and Specialty Wood Journal all closing print titles and continuing to publish online.

Online starts

There were a number of online-only starts in 2009 from publishers including Rogers, Fusion Publishing and Spacing – which expanded the number of city blogs it publishes by two last year. Online starts are not listed in the print tally count but are detailed below. The Masthead Tally will now officially track starts and stops in the online magazine field.

Making it personal

Custom publishing is the only category that grew rather than shrank in 2009, with two new titles and zero closures. New in the category are Mercedes and Bombardier magazines, both published by Spafax.

Seeking shelter

Experts say during a recession consumers tend to stay close to home. Following the money, there were three launches in 2009 of magazines that focus on building or decorating the home (Holmes magazine, Montréal Home, Sustainable Architecture & Building Magazine).

What’s in a name?

Not included in the 2009 Tally, but making headlines across North America last year was Canada’s History Magazine, which changed its name from The Beaver after 90 years with the name.

Entering the field
New magazines continue to enter the market in 2010. There have been a number of launches this year, including Friday Night, Payments Business and Canadian Cycling Magazine.

2009 Tally by the numbers:

Total launches: 17

Total closures: 37

Consumer launches: 14

Consumer closures: 17
Trade launches: 4

Trade closures: 20

Custom launches: 2


# of French-language launches: 1

# of launches a luxury focus: 1

# of launches with a frequency of 10x/year of more: 1

# of launches with a quarterly frequency: 5

# of launches with primarily paid circulation models: 6

# of launches that did not survive their first year: 4

# of closures that survived ten years or longer: 3

# of closures that survived less than five years: 7



Past Tally Round-up



Year Total Launches     Total Closures

2009       17                          37
2008       74                          29 

2007       75                          28

2006       82                          24

2005       93                          33

2004      139                         34

2003      101                         47

2002       83                          50
2001       69                          43

2000       81                          60

1999      122                         64



2009 Tally

2009 Starts
Total starts = 17*

Consumer

• Canadian Poker Player/poker/HeadsUp Entertainment
• Girlworks/teenage girls/Girlworks Media Inc.
• H Magazine/Hamilton
• Holmes magazine/home improvement/Dauphin Media Group
• Island Times/Vancouver Island/ Jolene Aarbo
• Men’s Fashion/mens fashion/St. Joseph Media
• Montréal Home/interior design/ Montréal Home Magazine Inc.
• Pitou Mag/Québec dog owners/Family Communications Inc.
• Quilter’s Connection/quilting/ Ray and Fran Helgeson
• Railfan/railways/Morgan Turney
• Sustainable Architecture & Building Magazine/sustainable architecture and building/Janam Publications

Total consumer starts = 11

Trade
• Blend/paint, coatings/Rogers
• Front Shop/pharmaceuticals/Fulcrum Publications Inc.
• Topcoat/paint, coatings/Rogers
• Mingle Magazine/Halifax business/Apeeling Orange Design Communications

Total trade starts = 4

Custom
• Mercedes Magazine/Mercedes/Spafax
• Bombardier magazine/Bombardier/Spafax

Total custom starts = 2

Online
• Canadiangreentech.ca/ Canada’s green technology industry/Perry Hoffman
• Woodbusiness.ca/logging, bioenergy, paper, lumber/CLB Media
• Moneysense.ca/personal finance/Rogers
• Nursing B.C./nursing in B.C./ College of Registered Nurses of BC
• Reportoncleantech.com/clean technology/ Fusion Publishing
• Reportonmining.com/mining/Fusion Publishing
• Reportonoilandgas.com/oil and gas industry/Fusion Publishing
• Spacing Atlantic/Atlantic urban spaces/Matthew Blackett
• Spacing Ottawa/Ottawa urban spaces/Matthew Blackett
• Sparksheet.com/media, marketing/Spafax
• Yonge Street/Toronto/Issue Media Group

Total online starts = 11

*Number does not include online starts

2009 Stops

Total stops = 37

Consumer
• Ascent/yoga
• Brave Words & Bloody Knuckles/heavy metal/Tim Henderson (continuing online)
• Calgary Inc./Calgary/Redpoint Media
• Canadian Home & Country/home and country/Transcontinental
• Cannabis Culture/marijuana/Marc Emery
• Centre of the City/Toronto/Metroland
• Chart/music/Chart Communications (continuing online)
• Desi Life/South Asian/TorStar
• Guelph Life/Guelph/Metroland
• Legacy Magazine/Alberta arts & heritage/Barbara Dacks
• Live It!/Metroland
• Locus Suspectus/contemporary arts/Jolene Pozniak
• Rex Magazine/Guelph/Metroland
• Suburban Life/urban lifestyle/Metroland
• Today’s Vancouver Woman/Vancouver women/ Rebecca Ephraim
• Unlimited/business and work culture/Venture (continuing online)
• Wedding Essentials for Same-Sex Couples/wedding tips for same-sex couples/ Brandon and Christine Jones

Total consumer stops = 17

Trade
• Advanced Manufacturing/manufacturing/CLB Media
• Apple/preventative medicine/Brian Cole
• Architectural Openings/Canadian architecture/Bob Rodkin
• Bois & Cie/woodworking/Éditions C. R. Inc.
• Canadian Lawyer Associates/law/CLB Media
• Energy Management/energy efficient products and technologies/CLB Media
• Coatings/coatings/Rogers Media
• Edge Forest Business Magazine/forest products/David Holehouse
• Grafika (combined with Infopresse)/marketing/Editions Infopresse Inc.
• Green Business/environmental business/CLB Media (continuing online)
• Le Quebec Industriel/Quebec Industrial/Rogers Media
• Les Papetières du Québec/pulp and Paper/Business Information Group
• Logging Management/logging/CLB Media
• Mill Product News/mills/CLB Media
• Mining.com Magazine/mining/InfoMine
• Newpharmacist/Pharmacien Le Jour/pharmaceuticals/Apotex Inc.
• Network Cabling/networking and cabling/CLB Media
• Orbit Magazine: OISE’s Magazine for Schools/schools/Ontario Institute for Studies in Education
• Specialty Wood Journal/wood/CLB Media
• Workplace/human resources/CLB Media

Total trade stops= 20


Tally Making

What follows are the criteria we use to identify launches and closures.
• Launches and closures are listed alphabetically by name; subject, unless self expanatory; owner/publisher; and city.
• Only standalone magazines with bonafide editorial content are counted as launches.
• Not included are annuals; magazines bound into other titles; newspaper sections, inserts/unbound supplements touted as magazines; and magazines that have relaunched under a new name, unless the magazine had ceased publishing for over a year.
• Magazines produced for corporations to promote their products or services—custom publications—are listed in the Tally but are not added to the total numbers of launches and closures.
• English and French editions of the same launch count as one, except in cases where the editorial content is significantly different.
• Unless found, magazines listed as M.I.A. will be counted as closures next year.