Magazines struggling to survive could take a lesson from Better Homes and Gardens. Over 85 years old, this powerful publication has extended its brand far beyond the page, moving into television, books, furniture, home and garden products, and even selling real estate.

Now Better Homes and Gardens has teamed up with Weber, a leading maker of outdoor grills, to sponsor the Chill & Grill Festival, a live event that will take place in Chicago's Lincoln Park on May 21 and 22. The event will include tasting booths, a "chill zone" lounging area, a live grilling showdown, master chef classes and demos, local restaurant tastings, cookbook signings, music, and activities for kids.

Amanda Cortese, Associate Director, Brand Business Communications for Meredith Corporation, the magazine's publisher, tells brandchannel that Chill & Grill is taking advantage of "two of the hottest trends" in the US.Continue reading...

The New York Times today announced the news its fans and subscribers have been waiting for — the terms of its so-called paywall.

The Times will begin charging frequent users of NYTimes.com $15 a month for web-only access (or $20/month for web and iPad access, and $35 "all access") on March 28. The subscription plan will allow readers 20 articles a month free, and print subscribers will have unlimited access. 

The new digital monetization strategy's goal: “to draw in subscription revenue from the most loyal readers while not driving away the casual visitors who make up the vast majority of the site’s traffic,” according to the Times' Media Decoder blog.Continue reading...

While eyes remain on the impact of the recent tsunami that devastated Japan, the latest State of the News Media report from the Pew Project for Excellence in Journalism describes another kind of tsunami — digital news.

This year's overview of the major trends impacting American journalism brings bad news for news organizations because "in the digital realm, the news industry is no longer in control of its own future."

While some may think the media has been obsessed with fretting about its own death, on the business side major media brands haven't done enough to adapt to digital, mobile and social media.Continue reading...

Print newspapers may be dying a slow death, but those embroiled in a fight for survival are rolling out a whole slew of new ideas designed to attract new customers and keep the old ones.

The New York Times, one of the most venerable media brands in the US (and the world), is one example of a paper that's most definitely trying to keep up with the times.

The Times recently introduced a social news iPad app, News.me, that pulls data from Twitter and Bit.ly to provide users with a personalized news experience. But that's just the latest salvo from a publication that seems to be reinventing itself on the fly.

The Times still permits free online access (to registered users) to its content, but a paywall is looming that will lock down some of its information and make it available only to paid online subscribers.Continue reading...

Condé Nast has a world of magazines in its portfolio.

Now the global media maven is offering readers more than 100 of its international glossy publications – including Vogue, GQ, Glamour and Vanity Fair – all in one place as it opens an upscale newsstand in London.

The newsstand, designed by Ab Rogers, son of the British architect Richard Rogers, will be located on the ground floor of Condé Nast’s London offices near Bond Street, where many of the magazines’ luxury brand advertisers sell their goods.

The new retail outlet not only proclaims that print is not dead — it also promotes Condé Nast’s desire to be seen as a company that is working to keep print vibrant and alive while embracing the complementary role of digital content.Continue reading...

The daily protests that continue to batter Egypt have had an interesting side effect — the emergence of the English version of a television/online network that previously was seen by Western media as an anti-American propaganda machine.

Al Jazeera, the Arabic network backed by the emir of Qatar, has had an English-language operation since 2006, but its on-the-spot coverage of the Egyptian revolt has been so integral to events that there seems to be a new interest in "Al Jazeera English," as the network calls the channel. Al Jazeera maintains separate Arabic- and English-language news operations but they work in tandem and share an "editorial spirit."

Some observers, reports the New York Times, wonder whether Al Jazeera has been influencing the Egyptian uprisings by televising them; indeed, Al Jazeera has featured 24/7 coverage and has continued to broadcast despite equipment being confiscated and arrests of its staff members.Continue reading...

Well, technically it's News Corp.'s The Daily, although Fox did plug it on last night's Super Bowl.

Fresh from his plug for JFK's 50th inauguration anniversary, watching NBC's late-night host spoof new NBCU owner Comcast, and find the funny side of iPad journalism, makes for a promo that Rupert Murdoch would have been better served to run during last night's Super Bowl than this.

AOL CEO Tim Armstrong announced at the Super Bowl that AOL is buying Arianna Huffington's Huffington Post website for an estimated $315 million.

The move gives content-hungry AOL a wide range of content (plus SEO savvy and a monster community of eyeballs), and HuffPost's ambitious founder more sites (such as TechCrunch, Patch, Engadget), more muscle and deeper pockets.

The deal — "one of the biggest digital publishing deals in recent memory," writes Ad Age — puts all of AOL's content under a newly formed Huffington Post Media Group, with Huffington — who calls it a merger of visions and says she and Armstrong "finished each other's sentences" when they met in November — serving as its president and editor-in-chief. 

Huffington tweeted from the Super Bowl that the merger means the "same HuffPost team, same goal, but now at lightning speed." More in the video above and press release after the jump.Continue reading...