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Just last week, I wrote a post here on KeySplash Creative Conversations about the shift away from print advertising that is driving many established magazines to resort to layoffs in order to remain profitable. This week, Ziff Davis announced that its 27-year old PC Magazine will no longer be available in print. Instead, PC Magazine will be available online only. The new online version has been rebranded as PCMag.com.
This seems like a natural change since PC Magazine generates 80% of its profits from its existing online content. Also, circulation of PC Magazine has dropped by half over the course of the past decade. However, what other magazines are likely to follow suit? The Christian Science Monitor made inroads in October when it announced the publication would be the first national magazine to move from print to digital only. It will be interesting to see what other companies make the same change for their print magazines.
What do you think? Is there still value to print magazine advertising or is the clock ticking?
Image: PCMag.com
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Susan Gunelius
Susan Gunelius is President & CEO of KeySplash Creative, Inc. and Founder & Editor in Chief of an award-winning blog, WomenOnBusiness.com. She is a 25-year veteran of the marketing field and has authored 10 books about marketing, branding, and social media, including the highly popular 30-Minute Social Media Marketing, Content Marketing for Dummies, Blogging All-in-One for Dummies and Kick-ass Copywriting in 10 Easy Steps. Susan’s marketing-related content can be found on Entrepreneur.com, Forbes.com, MSNBC.com, BusinessWeek.com, and more. Susan is President & CEO of KeySplash Creative, Inc., a marketing communications company. She has worked in corporate marketing roles and through client relationships with AT&T, HSBC, Citibank, Intuit, The New York Times, Cox Communications, and many more large and small companies around the world. Susan also speaks about marketing, branding and social media at events around the world and is frequently interviewed by television, online, radio, and print media organizations about these topics. She holds an MBA in Management and Strategy and a Bachelor of Science degree in Marketing.
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I don’t think this is a good barometer of the magazine industry because computers and technology change so rapidly! Considering that up-to-the-minute information is the standard for blogs and websites, print magazines are somewhat anachronistic for the PC and tech industry. With the exception of reviews and tutorials, everything in print is already out of date.
PC mag and Ziff Davis in general have already been going online quite a lot, with podcasts and other content. This, I feel, was inevitable.
The future of magazines will depend on their ability to capitalise on the title’s appeal as casual reading — no one flips through PC magazine before they go to sleep or while lounging on the beach.
Prescott brings us a good point because I still find myself flipping through whatever magazine is available while waiting in the doctors office or service department at a dealership. I’ll even do so when they’re offering regular television or some informational video feed (think doctors office kiosk with programs about prostate heath…). I don’t find it surprising that a technology magazine whose online publication mirrors their print magazine should abandon one for the other. I’m surprised that I’m still receiving as many technology publications in print as I do, especially considering most of the subscriptions are gratis and some I don’t even remember signing up for.
It would be interesting to see some statistics as to who is still successful in print. Can you post something about the top 5 print magazines still in circulation and compare/contrast against the top 5 online publications?
This doesn’t surprise me at all. Even a local daily Newspaper is like having a History Book delivered to your door every morning!
I think that Books will be around forever, I could be wrong.