The Evolution of TitleNews
January 14, 2020
For more than a century, TitleNews has been the go-to source of information about the land title insurance industry. Since the first edition in 1918, iterations have evolved from an extremely text-heavy publication to a magazine filled with useful charts and graphics that attempts to meet the needs of today’s readers.
In fact, you can go to ALTA’s website and access a PDF of volume 1 of what was then called the American Association of Title Men. Printed on Aug. 1, 1918, the all-text, 20-page bulletin highlighted the association’s efforts as well as various meetings at the state level.
The monthly bulletin continued until it was rebranded as TitleNews in 1924. As the decades passed, the newsletter evolved into a magazine. Over the years, the publication frequency changed and was printed every other month from the 1980s to the 2000s.
When I joined ALTA in June 2009, one of my first tasks was to resurrect the monthly production of TitleNews. However, as membership has grown more than 100 percent over the past 10 years, the cost to print and mail the magazine has skyrocketed. In fact, in 2019, it will cost ALTA more than $300,000 to get TitleNews delivered to your mailbox. As stewards of our members’ money, this is an expense we look at closely.
Per the Board of Governors’ direction, we will begin printing and mailing TitleNews on a quarterly basis in 2020. We will produce a paper edition of the magazine during the third month of each quarter. A digital version will continue to be emailed to members each month. If the digital version works best, you can opt out of receiving the quarterly print version. You can manage your subscription preference at alta.org/publications. The change in production frequency will save ALTA roughly $150,000 per year in printing/mailing expenses.
We know some of our members value having the print version in their offices, but we see these savings as an opportunity to find other ways to help support, promote and protect our industry. The digital edition allows us to be more creative in delivering content to you. It gives advertisers a fantastic venue to reach the industry in this digital renaissance. According to the Pew Research Center, 72 percent of Americans in 2016 preferred to get news on a mobile device. This was up from 54 percent in 2013.
While reading habits continue to shift, one thing is clear: news is still valuable. Whatever format, you can be assured we’re committed to delivering content that’s important to you. The evolution of TitleNews continues!
Jeremy Yohe is ALTA's vice president of communications. He can be reached at jyohe@alta.org.
Contact ALTA at 202-296-3671 or communications@alta.org.