National Geographic journalists on their lunch breaks run into daily reminders of their singular place in science journalism. A life-size spinosaurus, recently installed in the courtyard of its headquarters, stares at pedestrians walking by in downtown Washington, D.C. There’s a popular museum in the lobby. A Mars Rover replica occupies a good chunk of the space near the elevators.
Its business model seems just as particular and exclusive. Revenue pours in from diverse sources — contributions, advertising, books, video production, merchandise licensing and a lucrative cable-TV relationship with 21st Century Fox. Operating as a non-profit organization, the National Geographic Society, which publishes the magazine and funds expeditions and research, is immune to some of the harsh realities bedeviling other traditional news outlets, such as Wall Street pressure or impatient shareholders.
But change is in the air at the venerable publication. The National Geographic Society poached its new CEO, Gary Knell, last year from NPR. And there’s a mandate to revitalize the yellow-frame magazine and its digital operations to court new and younger readers who are not going to wait for a month to find out the latest in science and discovery.
The magazine’s subscription base is shrinking as few now bother to collect and stack old issues in their basements, and kids increasingly turn to their iPads for maps. Its domestic circulation totals about 4 million (international editions bring this up to 6.8 million), down from 10.8 million at its peak in 1989. It’s still the eighth-largest magazine in the U.S., according to Alliance for Audited Media.