Los Angeles magazine
Publishing
1960
If not for Dustin Hoffman, the outlook for Los Angeles magazine would be encouraging. After several years of financial losses and editorial musical chairs, the monthly has seen its circulation and advertising revenue rise for the past two years.
But it remains embroiled in litigation with Hoffman, who sued the magazine for publishing an unauthorized, computer-altered picture of him. In January, a judge ruled that the publication must pay the actor $3 million in damages for misappropriating his image. The magazine is appealing the decision.
Los Angeles, which is owned by Walt Disney Co. subsidiary Fairchild Publications, lost more than $5 million in 1996, more than $4 million in 1997 and more than $3 million in 1998, according to testimony at the trial. Executives at the magazine wouldn’t comment on its current finances, except to say that it is healthier this year than last.
Instead, they point to the failure of the much-hyped challenger Buzz magazine, and the boost they got by purchasing the Buzz name and circulation list following that magazine’s collapse last year.
Ad revenue is up 26 percent this year after rising 20 percent in 1998, while circulation for the six-month period ended Dec. 31 was 221,302, up 37 percent from the like period the year before.
“We just did a 228-page issue for August that was our biggest issue in about 10 years,” said Editor Spencer Beck. “When you have a situation where there are so many editors in a row, you have to re-earn the trust of your readers. That’s what I’m trying to do, by going slow and steady.”
Founded by David R. Brown in 1960, the magazine lumbered along for more than a decade before finding a successful formula: catering to the interests of the well-heeled residents of West L.A. through political profiles, investigative reporting, and lots of puff pieces on Hollywood stars.
In the early 1970s, “it was sort of struggling, with circulation around 35,000 and between 60 to 80 pages a month,” said Lew Harris, who worked at the magazine for more than 20 years before leaving as editor in 1995. “Then L.A. magazine basically exploded. Putting mostly celebrities on the cover was unheard of at the time, and we were roundly criticized for it, as was the decision not to aim for the whole city as an audience. But advertising doubled and circulation went through the roof. By the December ’84 issue, it was almost 500 pages.”
ABC bought the monthly in 1986, and it continued to flourish until the recession and fresh competition from Buzz in the early 1990s hurt circulation and advertising revenue.
From a circulation high of 172,000 in 1990, Los Angeles fell to 140,061 by June 1996, according to the Audit Bureau of Circulation. The drop was particularly serious because the magazine’s “rate base” the number of readers it guarantees its advertisers was 155,000, meaning it was forced to give rebates to its advertisers.
When Disney bought Capital Cities/ABC Inc. in 1996, it considered selling the magazine, and there were several personnel changes and general confusion over the monthly’s identity.
Beck became the third person to run Los Angeles in two years, and he has tried to calm fears that New York-based Fairchild would dictate to L.A.’s readers what they wanted to see.
The demise of Buzz and the subsequent rise in circulation have enabled Los Angeles to raise its rate base to 175,000, amid a growing consensus that the magazine is stabilizing.
“There’s really only one city magazine that has ever lasted here, and that’s L.A. magazine,” said Harris, no fan of Disney. “It’s clearly superior to what it was doing a year ago.”
John Brinsley
