by Herman Manson (@marklives) Africa Geographic Holdings is working to save the print edition of Africa Geographic magazine after its licence holder, Black Eagle Media, unexpectedly closed down.
Outsourced to two companies
Africa Geographic Holdings CEO Simon Espley explains that his company holds the IP and trademarks to Africa Geographic, and outsourced content to two companies, Big Fig for digital and Black Eagle Media for print.
Black Eagle Media, headed by the founder of Africa Geographic magazine, Peter Borchert, held the licence from Espley’s company to publish the print magazine. Espley says he hasn’t seen Black Eagle’s numbers but it would seem, from the outside at least, that ad pages and circulation figures had been on a downward trend. The publishing licence was terminated by the holding company at the end of October.
Black Eagle Media had relaunched Africa Geographic in August 2012 when it folded its second magazine title, the magazine Africa – Birds & Birding, into Africa Geographic. In May 2013 the magazine celebrated its 20th anniversary. Africa Geographic had originally been published under the title of Africa – Environment & Wildlife.
Go in-house
Espley hopes to relaunch Africa Geographic by April 2014. Although he is talking to new possible partners, publication will probably be taken in-house. Espley says there are no plans to take over the current editorial team and that he is looking to put together a team that understands multiplatform publishing, rather than one with a long track record in print only.
Print publishing, especially in the consumer space, is in an evolutionary phase, says Espley, and needs to work hand in glove with digital. He says the new hybrid magazine, which will operate as a unit across multiple platforms, will have a wider content mix and target audience.
In a statement posted on the Africa Geographic website, Espley undertakes to honour all outstanding issues owed by Black Eagle Media to subscribers once the new magazine has been launched. The brand will continue to operate its website and social channels while it redevelops its print product.
Calls to Black Eagle Media’s offices went to an automatic voice recording. A second message indicated no voice recording was possible at this stage.