Business

Time is of the essence for digital overhaul

After operating profit tumbled more than 40 percent in the most recent quarter, there’s a new sense of urgency surrounding Time Inc. and its push to capture digital dollars.

Following a three-month study by management consultant Bain & Co., completed in June, CEO Laura Lang has tapped a trio of top execs to lead several high-level strategy groups.

They are Paul Caine, executive vice president and chief revenue officer; Fran Hauser, Lifestyle & Style and Entertainment Groups digital president; and John Cantarella, president of digital for the Business, News and Sports Group.

While the execs are focused on growth over cutbacks, there are plenty of jittery people inside the nation’s largest publisher. Nobody sees any robust growth in the second-half numbers that will make up for the first half of 2012.

An area of the company that is particularly nervous is consumer marketing, which sets cover prices and tries to get customers to buy magazines at retail. Nearly 1,000 people work in the division, which has been without a head since Steve Sachs left in April.

One area of study is the entire digital video arena, which spans everything from video on websites to smartphones to YouTube channels.

“A lot of it is pretty predictable stuff, doing what every other media company is doing, trying to figure out how to get more money out of mobile, things like that,” said one insider. “But I’m sure there is a greater sense or urgency because the sense is that Time Inc. has had a leadership vacuum for a long time.”

Ann Moore was taking a go-slow approach near the end of her reign in 2010, and her replacement, Jack Griffin, lasted less than six months before getting run out of the company early last year.

Time Warner CEO Jeff Bewkes took nearly a year to name former Digitas CEO Lang to lead Time Inc. He announced her appointment in late 2011, and she started in January.

After the widespread resistance to Griffin, Lang deliberately took a more measured approach to sizing up the talent pool and conducted a listening tour. She was also an ad agency insider who had not worked in publishing.

Lang is getting mixed reviews. While insiders say she’s pleasant, there’s a growing sense that she needs to unveil dramatic moves. Changes from the strategic groups and the Bain study are expected to start rolling out after Labor Day.

“They are looking for a road map to the future. If she just comes up with a tweak here and a tweak there, people will be disappointed,” said one source.

Another source added, “ I really hope something does emerge, but it begs the question, can people who spend a career in publishing lead publishing out of this mess?”

Over and out

Men’s Health head honcho David Zinczenko, who is also general manager of Rodale’s healthy living group, is shaking up the company’s largest-circulation title, Prevention.

Yesterday, he handed walking papers to Diane Salvatore, a former publisher at Random House and onetime editor-in-chief of Ladies Home Journal. She ran the digest-sized magazine with a 2.8 million circulation for the past two years.

Salvatore could not be reached for comment.

No replacement was named, but a spokeswoman said a search is underway involving Zinczenko and CEO Maria Rodale.

Oddly enough, the traditional barometer for judging an editor — newsstand sales — was trending in the right direction.

Newsstand sales rose 11 percent in the second half of 2011, and were up 7 percent in the first half of this year, hitting 219,983.

Ad sales, however, were dismal.

In the first half, ad pages dropped 26 percent to 308 pages, according to Media Industry Newsletter.

Lori Burgess came on board as the new publisher in April.

“We’ve made the decision to take Prevention in a new direction,” Zinczenko said. “We’re growing the title to become an even larger media brand, starting with the launch of Prevention’s enhanced iPad app.”

Digital lab

Bonnier Publications, which publishes Field & Stream, Popular Science and Saveur, is starting an innovation lab to fund start-ups in the digital world.

The idea is akin to the popular TV show “Shark Tank,” where would-be inventors pitch their products to several potential investors.

Bonnier said it will select four early-stage companies for a 14-week program that will give them $25,000. At the end, they will get to pitch their idea to angel investors, venture capitalists and Bonnier executives.

Bonnier would get a slice of equity if the new company gets off the ground.

David Rich, the 31-year-old director of the lab, said the goal is giving start-ups access to expertise and customers that they would not ordinarily have to develop new ways to create, distribute and consume media.

“It’s just a first step to help them figure out their product and where they’re going with it,” said Rich.