Media on Trial - The Observer Film Quarterly

Magazine: The Observer Film Quarterly: Owner: Guardian Media Group

The latest addition to The Observer magazine series, Film Quarterly, is in great company.

The Observer magazines have been a genuine evolution in newspaper publishing, following other defining supplements such as You magazine, The Sunday Times’ Style and The Guide.

As one would expect, Film Quarterly is a strong editorial product. The tried-and-tested blend of bite-sized articles, lists, interviews, in-depth features and pictorial pieces is informative and entertaining. The title’s advertorials drive traffic to a film tie-up with Odeon cinemas, plus a Guardian Unlimited microsite hosting additional content and competitions.

Film Quarterly’s pagination is 40% lower than the regular Observer monthlies, and with solus Volkswagen branding and advertising throughout, it is clearly a commercially led product. A follow-up to a test version last summer – also sponsored by VW – the format clearly worked, as the partnership is now a four-edition run.

Film Quarterly’s ad-funded status does not necessarily detract from its editorial quality. The Observer has historically published well-received, ad-funded special editions of its monthly magazines. And rising cover prices and declining circulations mean that an evolving newspaper package is essential, and new editorial products are better at building long-term brand loyalty than giving away DVDs.

However, there is a clear difference between ad-funded special editions and regular weekly supplements, and The Guardian readership is savvy enough to recognise this. Getting extra value once a quarter from The Observer is no bad thing, and Film Quarterly is an intelligent and well- targeted partnership for VW. But, with limited pagination and low frequency, I question whether Film Quarterly is strong enough to drive The Observer’s circulation in its own right.

Alex Randall
MediaWeek, 12th February