Keith J. Kelly

Keith J. Kelly

Media

Entertainment Weekly combats ad decline with paper upgrade

Entertainment Weekly, faced with a first-half ad page decline in the 14-to-15 percent area, is not attacking the downturn in the usual manner.

Instead of additional layoffs, the weekly Time Inc. title is planning to go to heavier paper stock.

The first “heavier” issue hits newsstands this Friday with a big blockbuster tied to the ComicCon annual gathering in San Diego.

The cover of the ComicCon Preview double issue is “Batman v. Superman,” featuring Ben Affleck as Batman, Gal Gadot as Wonder Woman and Henry Cavill as Superman.

The film of the same name will be released by Warner Brothers in March 2016.

“We think it will make a big difference for consumers and advertisers,” Karen Kovacs, group publisher of People and Entertainment Weekly, said of the move to heavier paper.

Kovacs recently got a new boss when Rich Battista was appointed as People and EW group president by Time Inc. CEO Joe Ripp.

People had moved to heavier paper stock two years ago.

Joe RippReuters

One critic said that when EW moved to lighter paper several years ago as part of a cost-cutting move, it alienated some advertisers, particularly in the beauty arena.

One former Time Inc. editor noted, “There’s always a lot of tension inside Time Inc. — do you cut paper stock to save money and hope nobody notices or do you try to give the reader as luxurious a publication as you can with the hope that it attracts readers and advertisers.”

Kovacs said beauty has indeed been off this year, but she is looking for a big, second-half rebound. The ComicCon issue is helping to kick off that effort.

For print world geeks, the paper stock will be increased from what is known as 29-pound stock to 34- pound stock.

Earlier this year, EW and People formed a joint ad network that Kovacs said helped to knock TMZ out of the No. 1 spot in the digital entertainment category.

EW alone is on target to pull in more than 33 million unique visitors in June, she said.

“Print is still the No. 1 driver of revenue for the brand,” she said. Among the additions to EW’s eight-year coverage at ComicCon will be an expanded EW studio, which will feature nighttime cocktail events.

She declined to disclose the exact cost of the new move to heavier paper but estimated, “across the board, when you look at everything, I think seven figures would be accurate.”