Peter Kreisky

AMI’s $80M deal continues big consolidation in magazine industry

Peter Kreisky2018-06-28T22:57:11+00:00June 15th, 2018|

NEW YORK POST, June 15, 2018 by Keith J. Kelly. With Bauer’s titles, AMI now owns every large-scale celebrity magazine except Meredith’s People, the No. 1 title in the market. Meredith obtained the title when it bought Time Inc. in January. “AMI’s new-found scale in the celebrity category will pressure-test Meredith’s ability to sustain People’s leadership position in the unfamiliar world of celebrity weeklies,” said Peter Kreisky, a media industry consultant. Meredith says it is not concerned.

What’s Next for Rolling Stone?

Peter Kreisky2017-12-22T23:24:21+00:00December 22nd, 2017|

THESTREET.COM December 22, 2017. Media industry strategist Peter Kreisky... said Penske will help steer Rolling Stone through a more successful switch to digital distribution. With Rolling Stone under its belt, Penske stands to build its position as the "nexus of the entertainment and fashion industry," Kreisky noted. It will open up opportunities for cross-promotion across Penske's online verticals, while building a larger, more dedicated audience around the brands. For Rolling Stone, the priority will likely be focused on expanding beyond the baby boomer generation and into millennial-aged readers. "It's a spectacularly smart deal for Penske ... as Rolling Stone is incredibly underleveraged in the digital world," said Kreisky, a former executive at Time Inc. (TIME - Get Report) and CBS Corp. (CBS - Get Report) . "There is just massive potential to expand the Rolling Stone brand into other media platforms, including video, industry events, concerts or conferences." To be sure, positioning Rolling Stone as the authority for online entertainment news isn't guaranteed to be a slam dunk for Penske. Penske can, however, look to other legacy media brands that have successfully pivoted to digital, at least to some extent. For example, Condé Nast Publications Inc., which Kreisky said also was interested in Rolling Stone, has engineered digital transformations at The New Yorker and Vanity Fair. "The value that Penske sees in Rolling Stone is way beyond that which Rolling Stone can realize itself," Kreisky said. "Penske knows how to position the Rolling Stone brand and mine their potential."

The National Enquirer Sought Time Magazine—and May Still Get It

Peter Kreisky2017-11-28T03:12:41+00:00November 28th, 2017|

DAILY BEAST, November 27, 2017. David Pecker, chief executive of National Enquirer publisher American Media, Inc. wanted only Time, Inc.’s weekly titles (Time, Sports Illustrated, and People), according to Peter Kreisky, an industry analyst familiar with both Time, Inc. and Meredith....“Meredith’s business model is based on monthly magazines, not weeklies,” Kreisky told The Daily Beast. He stressed the logic of a deal for Pecker. “The National Enquirer, US Weekly, Star and others provide Pecker with a strong, well-established business base for weekly publications. Time and other Time Inc. weeklies would not only provide massive efficiencies but also make American Media the predominant publisher of weekly titles in the nation.”

Meredith Makes Claim There’s Still Value in the Magazine Business

Peter Kreisky2017-11-28T20:49:07+00:00November 27th, 2017|

THE STREET, November 28, 2017. "I've been expecting consolidation much earlier in this industry because of its economics," said Peter Kreisky, a former Time Inc. executive and founder of Kreisky Media Consultancy LLC. "But it's now happening, and we should expect it to accelerate even more." The horsetrading will leave U.S. magazine publishing more consolidated than ever with three dominant companies: Hearst, publisher of Cosmopolitan and Esquire; Condé Nast, publisher of Vogue and The New Yorker; and Meredith, publisher of Family Circle, Better Homes & Gardens and, if regulators approve the deal, Time's titles as well. ..."Meredith has highly developed marketing skills," Kreisky added. "They see in Time Inc a bunch of under-leveraged brands that they feel they can leverage by moving away from the traditional high-cost Time Inc. model and exercising the advantages of scale to lower costs even further."

Radhika Jones: Vanity Fair’s bright, bookish new editor with big shoes to fill

Peter Kreisky2017-11-17T23:07:36+00:00November 17th, 2017|

THE GUARDIAN, November 17, 2017 Peter Kreisky, a media consultant who advises publishers on digital conversion, said that Condé Nast as a whole and Vanity Fair within it had been slow off the block in making the transition. He was surprised that the company had opted in its choice of next editor for somebody with no overt digital experience, though he added: “It is my hypothesis that sheer brain power – which Radhika Jones clearly has in abundance – can figure out the digital conundrum.” For Kreisky, she will need to act quickly and with determination. “It is critical that she connects to the digital natives who see everything and do everything through their screens. She needs to build the Vanity Fair community among digitally savvy celebrity-obsessed fashionistas without destroying the dream – how to be inclusive while still being exclusive.”

In the hunt for consumer revenue, publishers are hiring e-commerce marketing veteran

Peter Kreisky2017-11-02T23:18:04+00:00November 2nd, 2017|

DIGIDAY, November 2, 2017. The shift by publishing companies echoes that made by banks in the ’90s, when they hired people from packaged goods companies, said Peter Kreisky, a publishing consultant. “Consumer marketing in the digital era is a whole new ballgame, and traditional publishers are ill-equipped to compete with those who have been in a direct marketing mode,” he said. “I think there’s a major catch-up that’s underway....” The competition for talent is stiffer... “They’re competing for talent with not other magazines, but Netflix and Amazon and Google,” Kreisky said.

New Day for Rodale Brands

Peter Kreisky2017-10-20T20:06:15+00:00October 20th, 2017|

THE MORNING CALL, October 20, 2017 Hearst is buying Rodale not just for the name recognition of its brands, but also its employees’ expertise in the health and wellness field, said Peter Kreisky, a New York media consultant. “That expertise can be applied to create new products Rodale might not have been able to afford to create or launch,” he said. “Rodale ran out of funds to invest in the future of the business, but Hearst is a very different animal.”

Rolling Stone Stake Could Fetch as Much as $80 Million

Peter Kreisky2017-09-18T23:11:43+00:00September 18th, 2017|

THESTREET.COM. September 18, 2017. "Rolling Stone has great value as a brand, and there should be buyers beyond the regular magazine publishing business," said Kreisky... "Any media company that would like to exploit Rolling Stone's brand in television, in reaching a very loyal and very attractive digital audience, is sure to be interested."...Wenner Media, Kreisky said, hasn't made the kind of investments in digital and video distribution to offset the entrance of Facebook ,. Google, YouTube and Spotify into the topics of music and touring. "The opportunity is right before our eyes, but it will require an owner with the vision and the cash to invest in digital if it's to be successful," Kreisky said. "Jann Wenner is one of the last holdouts. Never believed in digital and never invested in it. And at this point, the level of investment required is really significant."

Time Inc. Explores Sale of U.K. Magazine Division

Peter Kreisky2017-07-27T11:21:19+00:00July 25th, 2017|

WALL STREET JOURNAL, July 25, 2017 “Time Inc. is disposing nonstrategic assets that aren’t likely to play a critical role in the company’s future,” said media consultant Peter Kreisky. “The three U.S. magazines could prosper better under different ownership with greater incentive to invest to realize their potential.”

Rodale using Emmaus real estate to keep lenders at bay

Peter Kreisky2017-07-23T22:14:15+00:00July 21st, 2017|

THE MORNING CALL, July 21, 2017. …Rodale is tapping its equity in real estate to maintain cash flow while it tries to right a ship that media consultant Peter Kreisky says hasn’t been able to smoothly sail into the digital era. “The entire industry has been under similar pressures, but some are in a better position than others to respond,” said Kreisky, of New York-based Kreisky Media Consultancy. “When like Rodale you’re neither a specialized publisher nor a massive player, then it’s all the more difficult.” Kreisky said Rodale has struggled to adapt from its position as a medium-sized player in the legacy media industry. Bigger competitors have the firepower to attract talent and make the necessary investments to thrive in a digital-first world, while smaller niche publishers have more leeway to focus on serving an extremely loyal audience, he said. While unfamiliar with the specifics of Rodale’s finances, Kreisky said the growing pressure to move aggressively in one direction or the other is likely related to pressure from Rodale’s lenders. When a company can’t clearly demonstrate its ability to produce the cash needed to cover both operating costs and interest payments, he said, lenders usually put enormous pressure on the company to renegotiate the terms of a loan. “Someone like Rodale has to consider either merging with a larger media company so it can shed operating costs, or it has to become more specialized, which probably means shedding some of its titles and focusing on enthusiast segments of the market,” he said.

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