The encyclopedia · Strategy & Leadership · Strategic decision · 2016–2017
Flare, Canada's fashion magazine for 38 years, went online-only in one winter
Rogers pulled four magazines off newsstands on Sept 30, 2016; Flare — the fashion title since 1979 — was among them, print revenue down over 30%.
Flare · Rogers Media · 2016-09-30
What happened
Flare launched in 1979, created by editor Donna Scott out of Maclean-Hunter's Miss Chatelaine, and became the monthly known as 'Canada's Fashion magazine' — Canadian fashion and beauty for young career women. By 2016 it belonged to Rogers Media, and print was bleeding: Rogers' print revenue had fallen more than 30% year over year.
On September 30, 2016 Rogers announced that Flare and three sibling titles — Sportsnet, MoneySense and Canadian Business — would stop printing from January 2017, becoming online-and-app 'content brands.' The arithmetic behind the pivot: digital revenue up 20% year over year, digital consumer revenue outrunning newsstand by 50%, unique visitors up 41% in two years, and over $35M committed to the transition. 'Now is the time for us to accelerate that shift,' said Steve Maich, SVP of digital content and publishing.
The human cost landed two months later: on November 29 and December 1, 2016, Rogers laid off 87 full-time staff across the publishing division — 60 from Quebec titles, 27 from the English digital and publishing side — while Maclean's went monthly and Chatelaine dropped to six issues a year. From January 2017 there was no Flare on the newsstands; the name survived as a website.
Why it happened
- Print revenue fell more than 30% in a single year; the magazine's production and distribution could not be carried by a shrinking print ad market.
- Rogers judged the audience shift irreversible — digital revenue up 20% while newsstand revenue shrank — and chose to fund the pivot rather than defend print.
- Flare went with three titles at once: in a portfolio retreat, a masthead's 38 years carry no weight against the group P&L.
The lesson
When the publisher's print line falls 30%, the masthead's history gets no vote — the pivot is decided by the portfolio, and the brand becomes a URL.
Aftermath
Flare continued as a web brand under Rogers. Its sister fashion title Loulou got the harsher outcome: shut outright by the end of 2016 when no buyer was found.
Sources
- Rogers will stop printing 4 publications: Flare, Sportsnet, MoneySense and Canadian Business — Global News (Sep 30, 2016)
- Rogers makes major retreat from print media, taking four titles online — Financial Post (Sep 30, 2016)
- Rogers Media lays off 87 employees as it cuts back on print publishing — CBC (Dec 1, 2016)
- Flare Canada — The Fashion Model Directory (magazine profile)
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