Newsweek to drop Print Publication - go all digital

[kennyc]

Newsweek to cease publishing print magazine

By Andrew Tangel

October 18, 2012, 4:50 a.m.

Newsweek will print its final edition at the end of this year.

After nearly 80 years of publication, the news magazine will shift to a digital-only format, available online and on tablet computers, Editor in Chief Tina Brown said on the magazine's website Thursday morning. Its last printed edition will be the Dec. 31 issue.

"We are transitioning Newsweek, not saying goodbye to it," Brown said. "We remain committed to Newsweek and to the journalism that it represents. This decision is not about the quality of the brand or the journalism -- that is as powerful as ever. It is about the challenging economics of print publishing and distribution."

The digital-only publication, supported by paid subscriptions and dubbed Newsweek Global, will be aimed at a "highly mobile, opinion-leading audience who want to learn about world events in a sophisticated context," Brown said.

Newsweek's announcement marks a significant transition for the magazine, which was founded in 1933 and has been undergoing its own identity crisis and financial turmoil in recent years. Its problems are emblematic of the disruptions faced broadly by the print media industry, as readers shift online and away from the most valuable advertising.

In 2010, Newsweek and the Daily Beast announced they would merge, jointly owned by Sidney Harman, an audio equipment magnate who died last year, and IAC, the media and advertising company run by Barry Diller, its chairman and senior executive.

Brown cited a Pew Research Center report that found 39% of Americans get their news from an online source.

"In our judgment, we have reached a tipping point at which we can most efficiently and effectively reach our readers in all-digital format," she wrote. "This was not the case just two years ago. It will increasingly be the case in the years ahead."

Brown said the shift would entail "staff reductions," though she didn't elaborate.
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http://www.latimes.com/business/mone...,4478257.story

[Rob Lister]

Gardian UK is 'seriously' considering it too.

Print is expensive to produce and distribute. Web based publishing is far cheaper. With tablets becoming ubiquitous, it doesn't make a lot of sense to continue to use pulp. Who (besides me) doesn't have a tablet?

but ...

Newsweek is betting on continued subscription revenue through their mobile distribution. I think that's a risky move. Between the covers of a Newsweek print magazine you've got nothing but Newsweek. Between the covers of a tablet, you've got every news and entertainment source in the world: there's no need to limit yourself to newsweek even at the subscription price of free.

and ...

What will you find in the dentist's waiting room?

[ProfCrash]

http://www.thedailybeast.com/article....html#comments

I am not surprised.

[spindlegirl]

Linux Journal went all digital recently for the same reason.

Printing is costly to maintain.

[fjtorres]

The tipping point is here, indeed. At least for magazines.
Declining print volume means the print overhead costs (warehousing, transport, etc) are eating them up alive.
The smarter digital mags should try the old free-to-qualified-subscribers model of Infoworld and PC Week (among many other vertical market publications). And use direct email distribution.
That way they get the ad revenue, the metrics to justify the ads, and bypass the middleman.

[Kali Yuga]

Originally Posted by Rob Lister

What will you find in the dentist's waiting room?

A wifi hotspot.

[elemenoP]

Hmmm, I don't really see this the same way that you guys do. I see this more like "we are very close to going out of business so we have to do something." We will see in six months or six years if they do, in fact, go out of business.

eP

[ProfCrash]

I don't know. the Economist, Financial Times and other news papers, news magazines and the like have a paperless option for people to choose. It costs the same as the paper option (which honks me off) but it is there. I am guessing that I am not the only one to take the paperless option (why bother recycling all that stuff when I don't need to). They have not gone to totally paperless but I have a feeling that they would be fine if they chose that route.

[murraypaul]

Originally Posted by ProfCrash

I don't know. the Economist, Financial Times and other news papers, news magazines and the like have a paperless option for people to choose. It costs the same as the paper option (which honks me off) but it is there. I am guessing that I am not the only one to take the paperless option (why bother recycling all that stuff when I don't need to). They have not gone to totally paperless but I have a feeling that they would be fine if they chose that route.

You can get the Economist digitally for less than the print price through Zinio. Currently $127/yr, but was below $80 a couple of weeks ago. Newsweek is already available digitally at $30/yr.

[ProfCrash]

hmmm Does that include access to the website? For the Economist. I actually use it more at work on the computer than I do at home on my IPad.

[K. Molen]

Anyone who's interested in this sort of thing should check out Wired for a stellar example of a digital version of a magazine. In my opinion they've struck a perfect balance between the vanilla approach of creating just a plain PDF version of their magazine, and the all-to-easy-to-envision extreme approach of making the digital version a multimedia spectacle.

The layout and content is very similar to their paper issue, but it's been enhanced with things like internet links, ability to buy products from the advertisements, sample audio and video when the situation warrants it (like in an article about a band) and it's all presented very tastefully and unobtrusively.

[murraypaul]

Originally Posted by ProfCrash

hmmm Does that include access to the website? For the Economist. I actually use it more at work on the computer than I do at home on my IPad.

You can read the magazine online at the Zinio website, but it doesn't include an Ecomonist.com subscription.

[j.p.s]

I quit reading Newsweek a few decades ago when they wrote that a single woman over 40 had a greater chance getting killed by terrorists than getting married, then refused to retract.

[tubemonkey]

I used to get the newspaper; then the internet came along and I stopped subscribing.

I used to go to the library for magazines; then the internet came along and I stopped.

Thanks to the internet, I can get all the news and magazine content I desire for free. I see no need to pay for content that offers no value above what I currently get for free.

Adios print magazines and newspapers. Your time is up. The digital age is finally forcing you out. Your next challenge is to find a digital model that will ensure your survival. Definitely, not an easy task.

[fjtorres]

Originally Posted by murraypaul

You can get the Economist digitally for less than the print price through Zinio. Currently $127/yr, but was below $80 a couple of weeks ago.

The Economist has been trying to get me to re-up at $51 at year.
I've been getting by with their free option since I moved and let the print subscription expire.

They'd do a whole lot better if they opened that digital option to everybody.