What Does Condé Nast’s 25% Cut Mean for Magazines?

By Tara Lane, Staff Writer

Just a few months ago, news broke of publishing powerhouse Condé Nast’s decision to bring in an outside consulting firm to evaluate operating procedures and make business more efficient. In February, it was reported that 525 magazines were shut down in 2008 alone–the amount was even higher in 2007. It was no secret that the magazine industry was struggling, but the Conde Nast decision still worried many.

Fears were confirmed Wednesday when reports surfaced that publishers and editors have been asked to slash 25 percent off their budgets for the coming year. Just how these editors will respond is still unknown, as they have the next few weeks to crunch the numbers. Still, it is a major announcement that has shaken journalists and editors alike, and has made many people evaluate the industry’s place in the transition of print to digital.

Newspapers were the first in print media to make the digital transition . Some moved all of their content online and charged subscription and access fees, while others did half and half. The Wall Street Journal is a good example of this; daily subscribers have full access to both print and digital, but you can subscribe for online access only, too. Now, it’s the magazine industry’s turn to grow and adapt into the digital field. They’ve already got a good start, with help from Google’s digitalization efforts and the rising popularity of Amazon’s Kindle reading device. What will be the next big industry to adapt to the digital trend? With the help of Google and Kindle, it just may be books.

With digital, content is just a few clicks. The Home-Turf trend, or increase in information accessibility, can be seen in the move industries are making to be more accessible through digital platforms. The trend has also brought about ways for burgeoning entrepreneurs to become well-known names and produce popular products from the comfort of their own home. With access to things we’ve never had before, the user is now in control.

Sites such as Zinio allow subscribers to have magazines delivered to their online platform for about the same price as the regular, physical copy subscription. Magazines like The Economist, Popular Mechanics and Cosmopolitan are all available through the service. In a way, they’ve already done the digitalization for these magazines, but the magazines themselves don’t reap all of the benefits. BusinessWeek owner McGraw-Hill is currently trying to sell the magazine to another owner due its significant losses over the past year. While BusinessWeek started to offer paid content earlier this year, they are still losing money on ad sales, which fell nearly 40 percent in a single quarter.

While full content is usually available on most major magazine’s Web sites, very few have transitioned to online, paid-only content. In February, PC Magazine went completely digital, delivering a full magazine to subscribers’ inboxes rather than their mailboxes. There are examples of paid-only content sites, such as Media Bistro, that may prove to be good examples of what the future of magazines may be. Web-based Salon.com offers users different levels of membership, with free ad-supported usage or a paid, ad-free user experience. They have the same options for their daily newsletters as well. Smaller efforts towards the move to digital say yes, as large publications are now branching out through social media and other digital initiatives. Though it probably won’t be happening in the very near future, chances are most magazines will be digital before we know it.

Illustration by Gregor Buir from Stock.Xchng

Related posts:

1. New York Times Offering Paid Content in 2011 Only three years ago, The New York Times scrapped its...
2. YouTube Teen Beauty Vloggers: Fashion’s New “It” Girls? Bloggers are nothing new in the world of fashion. For...
3. Google’s “First Click Free” Will Give Allow Publishers to Re-Enforce Pay Walls After Rupert Murdoch proposed blocking his paid sites from Google...
4. New Media Stars Dominate Fortune’s 40 Under 40 Recently, Fortune magazine released its annual list of 40 rising...
5. REPORT: Top 25 Digital Influencers in News & Politics Never before have so many tools been available to analyze...