Family Fun Magazine

FamilyFun

by Tanya Irwin , Friday, June 5, 2009

A quick disclaimer: I have no kids of my own. That said, three of my closest friends have four kids between them under age 3. And I do take my "auntie" duties very seriously.

It was because of those tots that I ended up buying myself and all three of their moms subscriptions to Wondertime. And we all liked the magazine so much, that I renewed everyone's subscription for a second year. Little did I know when I renewed that Disney was getting ready to swing the ax and kill my beloved magazine earlier this year. Titles have been folding left and right, but this was one whose demise actually prompted me to utter an audible gasp and exclaim "Oh, no!" when I heard the news.

So what does this have to do with FamilyFun? Well, the good folks at Disney, in their infinite wisdom, decided all of us Wondertime subscribers would rather have a replacement magazine in the same genre, rather than cold hard cash refunds. In a word: not!

I didn't have time to get very far past the corny covers of the first couple of issues that showed up in my mailbox, but since I was in need of something to review, I sat down with the June/July issue and vowed to give it every chance I could, even though my initial reaction to the magazine, based on the cover blurbs and brief skims, was that it was pretty lackluster.

Larry Dobrow was actually far kinder to the pub in his review two years ago than I am going to be.

It was just a little over a year ago that I wrote about Wondertime and gave it probably the most blatantly gushing review I have ever written. To compare and contrast, it's hard to believe the same publishing company even conceived of these two magazines, since they are so completely different. I feel like physically shaking each and every big advertiser in FamilyFun and saying "Why didn't you advertise in Wondertime instead, so I could still be reading it and not this inane drivel?" I find it hard to fathom that FamilyFun has 2 million readers, when Wondertime never cracked a million.

The vast majority of FamilyFun is things to do with your kid: craft projects and recipes for them to make with your help, kid-friendly trips to take, etc. The magazine seems to feed off the notion that kids need to have their time carefully scheduled full of activities.

Funny, I hear many adult complain about being tied to their BlackBerry and laptop, etc., yet we won't let the youngsters enjoy being young. When I was a kid, we took off in the morning for whatever adventure *we* dreamed up. We'd come back home for meals, and then out the door again. I played with friends, played alone catching caterpillars and toads, rode my bike around the neighborhood, you know the drill. It truly saddens me to see kids today so heavily scheduled with "activities" and lessons.

It doesn't help that many of the suggested activities are kind of boring. I can't imagine inflicting them on any of the kids in my life. I'd be embarrassed that this was the best I could come up with.

For example, one feature shows how you can cut up "red and white" grocery bags (never is the word "Target" mentioned, but it's pretty obvious that this is the store the bags came from) to make "patriotic" pom-poms. (You attach the cut-up plastic bags to a wooden stick that you've wrapped blue painter's tape around.) Another suggests weaving cantaloupe seeds into a necklace. You'd think the folks at Disney (a la Hannah Montana) would know that no self-respecting preteen girl is going to wear anything so lame.

Itineraries for family trips to Boston and San Francisco and Kentucky are suggested. Has no one told the magazine's editors that we are in a recession -- and just scraping the money together to take your family to a baseball game is about all most families can afford this summer?

The readers' comments and pictures just add to the overwhelming clutter throughout the magazine. Lucky for them they have so many ads, but it makes for some very uninspired art direction. Visually, it lacks the hipster edge that made Wondertime feel so special. I was never self-conscious about carrying around a copy of Wondertime. My inclination with Family Fun is to hide it inside of another magazine because I'm kind of embarrassed to be seen reading it.

Now that I'm done writing this review, I will be getting on the phone to Disney to ask for a refund. Nothing can replace Wondertime, least of all, this.

MAG STATS

Published by: Disney Publishing Worldwide

Frequency: 10 times a year

Web site: http://familyfun.go.com/magazine/

This commentary is insightful. I recommend it to others.

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Irwin can be reached at tanya@mediapost.com.

Magazine Rack for Friday, June 5, 2009:
http://www.mediapost.com/publications/?fa=Articles.showArticle&art_aid=107415

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42 Million Americans Listen to Radio Every Week

Friday, April 24, 2009

42 Million Americans Listen to Radio Weekly on Digital Audio Platforms

The latest study by Arbitron and Edison Research shows continued growth in usage and ownership of various forms of digital audio platforms, including online radio, iPod/MP3 players, and podcasting. The weekly online radio audience increased significantly in the past year to 17% of the U.S. population age 12 and older; up from 13% in 2008. On a weekly basis, online radio reaches 20% of 25-to-54 year-olds; up from 15% in 2008.

Bill Rose, senior vice president of marketing, Arbitron Inc., says "The sharp growth in weekly usage of Online radio... provides compelling evidence that radio's digital platforms may be reaching critical mass. We are... seeing encoded streams of AM/FM broadcasts with significant audience in local markets."

Key findings from The Infinite Dial 2009: Radio's Digital Platforms, include:

More than one in five radio listeners (21%) say AM/FM radio has a big impact on their lives; ranking second only to owners of the Apple iPhone in particular (23%) and cell phone owners in general (47%) as the audio platform/device that has a big impact on people's lives.

Online radio listeners are more likely to be upscale, well-educated and employed full time;

- 54% of weekly online radio listeners are employed full-time (compared to 43% among persons 12 and older);
- 16% of weekly online radio listeners live in homes with an annual income greater than $100,000 (vs. 10% among persons 12 and older);
- 37% of weekly online radio listeners have a college degree or higher education level (vs. 29% among persons 12 and older).

Weekly online video viewing among persons age 12 and older is up significantly in the past year, from 18% in 2008 to 27% (approximately 69 million) in 2009.

- 34% of persons age 12 and older report having a profile on Facebook, MySpace, LinkedIn, or any other social networking Web site, up from - 24% in 2008
- 63%  of teens age 12-to-17 report having a profile on these social networking sites
- 64% 18-to-24 year-olds have a profile on these social networking sites.

iPod/portable MP3 player ownership and iPod use continues to grow dramatically.

- 42% of persons age 12 and older own an iPod or other brand of portable MP3 player

- 64% of 18-to-24 year-olds own a digital audio player

- 32% of teens age 12-to-17 and persons 18-to-24 are spending less time with over-the-air radio specifically due to time spent with iPod/other portable MP3 players

- 22% of Americans age 12 and older have ever listened to an audio podcast

- 11% (27 million) reported having listened to an audio podcast in the past month in 2009

Tom Webster, vice president of strategy and marketing, Edison Research, concludes that "... consumer use of new digital platforms... is becoming nearly ubiquitous... a window of opportunity for radio to... spread its content across the expanding choices consumers use to control their media experience."

The complete study, The Infinite Dial 2009: Radio's Digital Platforms, may be downloaded free of charge via the Arbitron and Edison Research Web sites linked here.

Post your response to the public Research Brief blog.

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We use the term research in the broadest possible sense. We do not perform an audit, nor do we analyze the data for accuracy or reliability. Our intention is to inform you of the existence of research materials and so we present reports as they are presented to us. The only requirements we impose are that they are potentially useful and relevant to our readers and that they pass the rudimentary test of relying on acceptable industry standards. We explicitly do not take responsibility for the findings. Please be aware of this and check the source for yourself if you intend to rely on any of the data we present.

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