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SI Receives Praise For Collaborative
Effort Of Magazine, Web Site
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ADWEEK has named SI Group President & Publisher Mark Ford, Editor Terry McDonell,
SI Digital President Jeff Price and SI.com Managing Editor Paul Fichtenbaum its
Executive Team of the Year. ADWEEK’s Lucia Moses writes the SI execs have “turned
their once-struggling online property into an All-Star while continuing to move
the ball at the core magazine. ... Fighting declining ad sales and circulation,
SI has been able to slow the losses and stabilize the bottom line.” SI.com now
accounts for 20% of the group’s revenue, and Ford predicts the digital side will
“represent half the profits of the SI Group by 2010.” Ford: “The goal in three
years is to have slow, steady growth on the magazine side, and digital (operating
income) will be 50[%] of our bottom line.” Meanwhile, Moses notes 39% of magazine
subscribers visit the Web site. The online transformation has “not only boosted
the bottom line for the [SI] Group, but made it a model for other Time Inc. titles
as they shift more resources to the Web.” At SI.com, more than 40 people work
on the edit side, and Moses writes, “Getting the magazine staff to buy into the
Web was critical. The mandate was decisive: No longer would writers collect a
fee for contributing to the Web site; it would now be part of their job description.”
Ford: “We’ve been able to create franchises around our writers because they have
loyal followings. Peter King was the first with ‘Monday Morning Quarterback,’
but we are looking at that model with (Stewart) Mandel and Tom Verducci” (
ADWEEK,
3/5 issue).
