LOS ANGELES — Newsweek’s decision to stop publishing a print edition after 80 years and bet its life entirely on a digital future may be more a commentary on its own problems than a definitive statement on the health of the magazine industry.
Magazine ad revenue in the nation is seen rising 2.6 percent this year to $18.3 billion, according to eMarketer. That would be the third increase in three years, driven mainly by gains in digital ad sales, though print ads are expected to be flat.
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This kind of thing can really alienate readers who subscribed to a print magazine and suddenly have to read it on line.
PC Magazine dropped their print edition in January 2009. They announced the change as if it was some big favor they were doing me. I was just a few months into a 2-year renewal. I feel I was ripped off by the publisher Ziff Davis. I had subscribed to a print magazine and having to read it online required major adjustments. I could no longer leaf through it lying on my bed before I fell asleep.
Within a few months I simply stopped reading PC Magazine, which I had to download using the Zinio reader. Instead, I subscribed to PC World, still in print. I would never again subscribe to a Ziff Davis publication.