TC Media’s custom publishing division Totem announced this week that it is increasing the size of its automotive and lifestyle title CAA Magazine by 15%, to 56 pages, beginning with its spring 2014 issue.
Proving that “custom” and “cars” go together in more ways than one, CAA added 236,000 readers over the past year according to the most recent readership report from Toronto’s Print Measurement Bureau (PMB).
The publication, which serves four of the CAA’s nine clubs, now boasts 2.6 million readers aged 12+, which makes it the country’s seventh largest magazine.
The expansion follows a fall redesign meant to contemporize CAA for younger audiences without alienating its core 35+ audience, said Karen Lee, senior director of client services at Totem.
The latest PMB study indicated that CAA has also experienced a 7% increase in the amount of time the average reader spends with the publication (to 32 minutes), as well as a 5% increase in occasions read to 1.8.
Lee said that CAA has exceeded its revenue targets for the year, and continues to look at adding new ad units in both print and digital. “We have definitely made strides in building out that third-party advertising effort, and [marketers] are interested in advertising in this book,” said Lee. “When you’re [ranked] third among all shelter magazines…it definitely opens up some new opportunities in terms of advertising.”
Lee said that building out CAA’s digital product will be a “key priority” for Totem in 2014, with an emphasis on providing better access to what she characterized as “first to know” information, new and ongoing offers, and “inspirational” content in the areas of automotive, travel and insurance.
The publication caters to an affluent reader base, with its readers boasting an average household income of more than $87,000 and more than a quarter employed as a professional, manager or business owner.
Totem, formerly Redwood Custom Communications, has held the CAA account since 2006. “Our goal is to make sure we’re staying in lockstep with them in terms of where the brand is going and their business is going,” said Lee.
