“Keeping the readers engaged issue after issue has really been the key to our success.” Terry Duffy 

Terry Duffy is the proud group publisher of the Palm Beach Media Group based in South Florida.  In less than five years the group has expanded its reach in South Florida from 16 titles to 30, and is still growing.

Terry believes that he is fortunate to live and work in a part of the country that “is still very magazine-centric,” with an audience who is “still very engaged with print.”  In fact that engagement also extends to the advertisers who help the Palm Beach Media Group generates more than 90% of its revenue.

Part of the Hour Media magazine group, the South Florida operation, in addition to tens of city and regional magazines,  also publishes a “super regional,” as Terry called it, referring to Florida Design magazine that is distributed along the east coast, Canada,  Europe, and South America.

I had the chance to have a conversation with Terry the day after he was leading an interview session with Hal Rubenstein the founder of Egg magazine and former editor of InStyle.  To say Terry was elated from that interview will be an understatement.  “ I was a fan of Hal’s first editing assignment at Egg magazine back in the early 1990s. And I held on to those magazines as kind of a reference of things to do being inspired.” Terry told me. He added, “So having the opportunity last evening to interview Hal, to talk about his editorial process, how he approaches projects, those interviews and those interactions are the things that drive what we do.”

A very pleasant conversation with a person who is a firm believer that, if you stay true to your mission and always focus on your audience, success will follow.  What follows is my,  conversation with Terry Duffy, the group publisher of the Palm Beach Media Group, but first for the sound bites:

On his revenue model: We are generating more than 95% of our revenues from print.

On being based in Florida: We are fortunate to live in a part of the country that is still very magazine-centric. People that are moving to South Florida from other parts of the country are still very engaged with print.

On the secret of success:  We have stayed true to our editorial messaging, and editorial drives the train at Palm Beach Media… Keeping the readers engaged issue after issue has really been the key to our success. 

On his role at Palm Beach Media Group: My role is primarily revenue drive, making sure that revenue dollars are coming in, making sure that our sales initiatives are successful while at the same time trying to balance events, event execution, marketing activities…

On the growth of the group: We were 13 magazines, custom and monthly in 2016. Now we are 30 magazines and 60 employees.

On his most pleasant moment: I think it’s the feedback that we get.

On the flagship Palm Beach Illustrated: Palm Beach illustrated is celebrating 73 years. We’re coming up on 75. I look forward to that anniversary.  It is unusual to have a monthly regional title survive that long and thrive.

On what makes him come to work: Every day is a challenge. So it’s never the same job twice, two days in a row.  There’s always a unique challenge that pops up and that’s what makes it exciting and interesting for me.

On what keeps him up at night: The changes in the print industry, the paper industry, those consolidations, and the lack of continuity in those industries. We want and support a healthy print industry, a healthy paper industry. But with the changes that we’ve seen over the last five years, with consolidation, that’s just less.

And now for the lightly edited conversation with Terry Duffy, group publisher, Palm Beach Media Group:

Samir Husni: Thank you for taking the time to chat with me. My first question to you, Terry, is that the Florida Magazine Association used to refer to publishing in Florida as publishing in paradise. Are you still living in paradise or things have changed? 

Terry Duffy: We are fortunate to live in a part of the country that is still very magazine-centric. People that are moving to South Florida from other parts of the country are still very engaged with print.  We’ve had a very fortunate run over the last 10 years or so, even through the challenges during COVID. 

Samir Husni: You oversee so many magazines; how is your job today securing advertising, selling advertising is different from what it was like five years ago?

Terry Duffy: Like most magazine publishers, particularly city regionals and smaller regional publishers, we have been creative in our approach, expanding offerings beyond the like. Again, we’re a bit unique in the market.

We are generating more than 95% of our revenues from print. Our audience is still very engaged with the print products that we produce and across the 30 or so magazines that we produce both for consumer and for custom publishing clients, print is still dominant as our revenue base. 

Samir Husni: And why do you think that’s the case? 

Terry Duffy: We have stayed true to our editorial messaging, and editorial drives the train at Palm Beach Media.  And we are very fortunate, the editorial team, that our editorial director, Daphne Nikolopoulos, has assembled over the years delivers content that remains engaging to our readership. I was at an event last night over in Palm Beach where many people came up to me talking specifically about her contribution to the work that we do, her engagement in the community, and that pays dividends. Staying true to that is key because it’s easy to be distracted by a new special section or a new initiative.  Keeping the readers engaged issue after issue has really been the key to our success. 

Samir Husni: You sound so positive in terms of what’s going on with the Palm Beach Media group. Has your job been a walk in the rose garden? 

Terry Duffy:  I made a couple of changes personally over the last couple of years.

We lived in Miami previously, even though our offices are based in West Palm. So I had a long distance commute for 14 years, but I have a great job. I have a great opportunity here at Palm Beach Media.

So I stuck with that commute. And then in 2019, my wife and I moved up here full time. That  has allowed me to dedicate more focus onto the titles that we’re doing.

The job has changed, it’s still a very competitive market here in Palm Beach, in Naples, where we operate as well. We just had a new launch in our Vero Beach market, a competitive launch, I should say. Now we have three local glossy magazines in the Vero Beach market.

We have about six in the Naples market and a dozen or more in the Miami market. So it’s always competitive. It forces us and requires us to stay focused on our game and making sure that we’re delivering the best product possible.

Samir Husni: How do you differentiate? Do you have a mind shift when you are dealing with Florida Design, which is more of a national title than the city and regional titles? Or you still treat Florida Design as a regional title? 

Terry Duffy: We view Florida Design as a super regional. Florida Design is distributed up and down the East Coast nationwide to Canada, Europe, South America. The goal there is to serve the audience that is focused on what’s happening in the state of Florida.

Even if they’re picking up a copy at LaGuardia (airport) or on the newsstand in Boston, that audience want to know what’s happening in the design world in the state of Florida. And by focusing on that messaging, what’s happening in the design community, how Florida is influencing design evolution, that allows us to stay focused without being distracted by what may be happening in California or Texas. The focus is exclusively on the local, if you will, Florida market, even though it happens to be one of the biggest markets in the country.

Samir Husni: So since you became the group publisher, what has been the most challenging stumbling block that you had to attack or address and overcome? 

Terry Duffy: My role is primarily revenue drive, making sure that revenue dollars are coming in, making sure that our sales initiatives are successful while at the same time trying to balance events, event execution, marketing activities, things that surround special advertising sections that we do, be it a realtor’s profile section, a top doctor section, those sorts of things.

So staying focused on a project from initial concept through final execution, that has been my largest challenge in this responsibility.  As we grew, we were 13 magazines, custom and monthly in 2016. Through 2019, 2020 and 2022, we acquired a number of companies and now we are 30 magazines and 60 employees. So that demand on our management group’s time is just that much greater.

We have lots of great ideas and lots of things that we would love to do. Seeing those through to fruition is our largest challenge right now.

Samir Husni:  What’s the most pleasant moment that you had since 2016? 

Terry Duffy: I think it’s the feedback that we get. I had the opportunity last night to interview Hal Rubenstein, the former editor of InStyle magazine. Totally coincidentally, I was a fan of Hal’s first editing assignment at Egg magazine back in the early 1990s. And I held on to those magazines as kind of a reference of things to do being inspired. So having the opportunity last evening to interview Hal, to talk about his editorial process, how he approaches projects, those interviews and those interactions are the things that drive what we do.

As I mentioned earlier, staying true to our editorial message and our editorial mission is really, really important. And to have an interaction like that with an expert, an industry veteran, someone that I have looked up to for 30 years with his career and his influence in the industry, that was really special. That was a great night. I’m very, very fortunate to have those types of opportunities. 

Samir Husni: Excellent. Terry,  is there a question that I need to ask you that I failed to ask you? 

Terry Duffy:  I don’t know what makes Florida different. We have conversations and you opened with publishing in paradise. We live a charmed life. We are very, very fortunate in South Florida.

Our flagship title Palm Beach illustrated is celebrating 73 years. We’re coming up on 75. I look forward to that anniversary.  It is unusual to have a monthly regional title survive that long and thrive. So what makes South Florida different  is, again, that engaged audience and people who are moving here want to know about their neighbors. They want to know how to live like a Floridian, how to live like a Palm Beacher. We have that, audience engagement which is a great place to find ourselves after 73 years.

Samir Husni: Let me ask you some personal questions. When you wake up, what makes you say, Oh, I can’t wait until I come to work. 

Terry Duffy: Well, that that’s an easy one. I used to drive 135 miles round trip every day to work, and I was always happy when I got out of the car and walked into the office every morning.  I still am. The excitement and the every day is different. Every day is a different opportunity whether it’s hosting our Florida Design sea glass awards last Thursday night, the interview last night that I mentioned, being on press at three o’clock in the morning with a new title like our newly launched Florida Design Sarasota edition.

Being hands-on and at the same time being surrounded by extremely creative and talented people. We are very fortunate to have people on our team that predate me.  I’ve been here for 19 years. Our creative director is 25. We have an account manager, our associate publisher in Palm beach, 30 plus years with the organization. The dedication, the level of creativity, makes every day different.

Every day is a challenge. So it’s never the same job twice, two days in a row.  There’s always a unique challenge that pops up and that’s what makes it exciting and interesting for me.

Samir Husni: If I come to visit you one evening unannounced, what do I catch Terry doing at home, reading a book, watching TV, cooking? 

Terry Duffy: I am the cook of the house. So I am either roasting a chicken for my wife.

That’s a secret to our successful 30 year marriage. I’m in charge of roasting the chicken and she’s in charge of enjoying it. You are most likely to find my wife and I enjoying dinner at one of our local restaurants in West Palm Beach, observing and identifying what’s happening in the community, digesting our day and better understanding our community.

Samir Husni:  My typical last question is what keeps Terry up at night these days?

Terry Duffy:  The yellow pad of to do’s. In our industry right now, the changes in the print industry, the paper industry, those consolidations, and the lack of continuity in those industries. We want and support a healthy print industry, a healthy paper industry. But with the changes that we’ve seen over the last five years, with consolidation, that’s just less.

When I started as a print buyer 30 years ago, there were a dozen companies knocking on my door, soliciting my business. We had a wide variety of different grades and sheets to print on. And that’s become narrower and narrower over the years.

So it doesn’t keep me up at night, but that the challenge that our production team and our creative team face with some of those limitations, is a hurdle for us, for sure. However, I remain very optimistic about regional print based on the success we’ve had launching new products over the last two years, expanding our frequency in our Miami market with Florida Design, Miami edition. We had our highest page count with Palm Beach Illustrated this year, in almost 15 years since the great recession.

I remain very optimistic at the local level. I guess it’s the larger, the macro industry trends that are a concern right now.

Samir Husni:  Thank you. Much appreciated.