Magazines Sacrificing Web Sites To Save Print Editions

The operating policy now, particularly at Condé Nast, basically reads: Revenue first! Future later.

And the printed page, the luxury object, is still where you find the money these days.

"The print reader's worth a whole lot more [than the online reader]," said publisher Jann Wenner in an interview with Advertising Age last week.

"It's never come up before," said one senior editorial staffer who works at the Wenner Media empire. "I don't think I've ever heard anyone in my position or higher talk about the Web."

And where it was talked about, it's quickly being forgotten!

Portfolio, a magazine that had one of the boldest Web sites in the Condé Nast empire, let that experiment go two months ago when it dismissed 25 of the 30 people who worked full time and as freelancers for the magazine's Web site.

And why? Partially to save the magazine.

Read the whole story here.

Comments

[GaiaTerra7]

Typical idiotic c.o.r.p.o.r.a.t.e thinking!.

Soon they will be asking for bailouts.

It is amazing how so called news people miss birthing and dying industries.

So long magazines. In this economy who the heck can fork over $10 for a magazine?

[JohnQPublicke]

Can't we all just get along?

[Tags]

Web 3.0 - back to paper.

[VegetableMan]

in the same way that downloads have essentially killed the cd, and the way that downloads/VOD will soon kill off the dvd, online will kill print. you can say that "people will always love paper," and "they need something tactile," but people said the same thing about vinyl ("people love album art!"). there's already a generation that never bought vinyl; there will soon be a generation that doesn't buy books or newspapers or magazines. it will all be online. mags can either LEARN THEIR LESSON from the music industry and get ahead of the trend, or they can stay with paper/print and die.

and yes, i work in mag publishing. digital is the future. and a lot greener, too.

[nellie]

It may be greener, but I don't think it will ever fully replace print without a revolution in computer technology. We like print. We like to hold things in our hands and read them. We like to turn pages back and forth. We like books. We like newspapers. We like magazines and tabloids. I especially see the benefit of print with magazines, where the stories are long, in depth, and, hopefully, investigative—not competing the 24 hr news cycle.

Until Apple comes up with a monitor that we can fold in half and tuck under our arms and curl up on the sofa with, a lot of people are going to keep buying print.

And I was in publishing for 10 years.

[RadCenter]

Amen. I can't see myself drifting off to sleep with a Kindle on my face the way I do with magazines.

[BryantG]

I'm not really sure it's greener since you need electricity to read an online edition even on a sunny day.

[VegetableMan]

you will be holding things in your hands to read. a digital reader. the revolution in digital reading tech is coming. there are already several decent ones on the market. and with so many people surfing the web on their iphones, newspapers are gonna be the next to go. just ask your kids. they're the future market.

and i'm in publishing 20 years--and honestly, that's not me bragging! : )

[DubiousAtBest]

Other than chat-lists and short little newsbreaking tidbits, who actually LIKES to read anything extensive online? If you want up to the second news, the web is great. But i MUCH prefer my magazines that are not so time-sensitive to be on PAPER. No doubt.

Contrary to what web geeks (who prefer their music to be non-tangible and disposable) will tell you, printed matter is not disappearing. Just the opposite actually. There is MORE printed matter NOW than ever in human history.

Your MP3 will cease to work, or be corrupted. This HufPo article will disappear when the server crashes. I have LPs that are 50 years old and still play fine. i have books just as old.
Look me up in 40 years and see if you still have your "digital" (ie...fantasy ) lifestyle.
It's like paying for air.

[GaiaTerra7]

Your beloved articles can be read online and in full. If you want to read them again later, a simple search brings it up again in seconds. If you want to find it again in print, how long does it take you to search thru stacks?

[JailNeoconVicts]

Well, it's never made sense to me that they will give away the same content on the web that you'd have to pay for in print. I agree with this; it's like the window between when a movie is released theatrically and when you can get it from Netflix. Make sure you get your primary revenue stream first. Of course, piracy makes it a difficult thing to enforce.

[williamg]

Nothing sells like 2 week old news!

[slowtono]

Uhm yeah it is backwards but what has to come and will be very shortly is you and I will pay pay pay to see, view and read the web. Not a dollar a day across the board $60.00 to $100 baby on top of your user fees. Hey it's a business. Gotta pay employees. Mags rags and pulp got us here, nothings free.

[MsCanadian]

While a lot of people still like print magazines, the web versions are more environmentally-friendly. I rarely buy magazines, but will read the articles on the web. Saves paper and disposal problems.

[LS1958]

Interesting - Detroit newspapers abandon print to go digital, magazines abandon digital to go print.

It's a crazy world.

[walleymr]

Uhm, I think they have it backwards.

[plwood01]

Sure they do, I have not read a print magazine since probably 2000, I pay for the web, rather than for magazines that are not environmentally friendly anyway and those as well as newspapers will be outlawed soon due to the climate crisis. Digital is the way with the TV, WEB, let's go futuristic! Only old people don't want to let go of the print media but then they don't use computers so much yet but they will in the next decade have to convert. That is my prediction for the future of print media. I base that on the fact that online schools do not require students purchase books any longer, they supply them in pdf online within the student's classroom forums. It greatly saves them when tuition is so high. That started in 2005 while I was teaching for University of Phoenix.

[RadCenter]

1. My computer is powered by coal. How is that friendly to the environment?

2. Old people will "have to convert"? How elitist. What if they can't afford a computer?

3. Look forward to losing your eyesight in middle age, because that's what all of the screen time is going to do for you. If you don't believe me, ask any eye doctor who's been in business for more than 10 years. Elementary-school-age kids are needing bifocals now.