When it comes to men, sports and women are the cream of the crop. However, since 2009 Sports Illustrated has been in a slump, but estimates an 8% increase in advertising revenue. Sports Illustrated did not release a specific number of dollars that 8% represents, but does expect a better outcome for this year's swimsuit issue. The content for this issue goes far beyond the printed magazine and can be found on many platforms. The best part is the content on different platforms is not necessarily the same. SI Swimsuit Edition of 2012 will branch to SI.com content, media for iPhones, iPads, Android, Nook, & Kindle. VH1 also made a special program to honor the swimsuit edition and DirectTV has joined with SI to create an app allowing smartphone users to scan "digital watermarks" in the print magazine to unlock additional content else-wise unavailable to others. This year's issue will include athletes again. Digital media will have pictures of models that give the reader a 360 degree view. When clicking on the pictures, it will seem like the model is spinning, giving it a video-like feel. Any online media (including phones and tablets) will feature links to the models' Twitter pages so readers can follow the models online. With all the different platforms, the swimsuit issue will reach 65 million readers.
The breakdown for the location of advertising revenues are as follows:
- Print: 55%
- Online media: 31%
- Experimental/Event marketing: 10%
- Smartphones & Tablets: 5%
These numbers make sense, but I would think that online media would be closer to the print media. This year's issue has 211 pages of which 82 are ad pages. In 2011 there were 86 ad pages and 77 in 2011. Perhaps the 9 page ad gap from 2010 to 2011 played a strong role in generating smaller revenues than previous years. An interesting stat to pay attention to is that 38% of the readers for the swimsuit issue are women. This number is a lot higher than people would think. There are many typical ads people may think are for men. Companies advertising in this year's issue include Kru82 vodka, Gillete, Lexus, and the Las Vegas Convention & Visitors Authority. Take note that Gillette is targeting women for its Venus line of razors. It may be beneficial to advertise certain products for women in the swimsuit, but research must be conducted to see women's perception of the magazine. If women do not feel pretty while reading the issue, maybe it would be a good idea to advertise cosmetic products.
Last years smartphone and tablet technology was made in haste and this year looks to be much better. The Creative Director of Sports Illustrated, Chris Hercik, said, "This was really the first time where we had an entire year to completely build out the product and make it deeper, smoother and much more interactive" (Sport Business Journal, Fisher).
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