Amy Katz and I are often asked if Nine Lives Media Inc. plans to launch any print magazines.
- Our short answer: Absolutely not
- Our long answer: If you pay us enough, we’ll consider it
Fact is, Amy and I love magazines. We’ve worked on some big IT and business titles in our day. But those titles are shrinking or disappearing entirely from print. In fact, another major print magazine died earlier today.
U.S. News & World Report is “getting out of the newsmagazine business and going all digital,” according to The Washington Post.
Think about this for a minute: CMP Media, Ziff Davis Media, IDG and other trade publishers used to spend several million dollars to launch magazines that didn’t turn profits for at least three to five years — if at all.
New Century, New Media
These days, savvy Web media companies can launch and build successful brands in less than a year. There’s nothing “easy” about New Media. You’ve still got to build audience, produce great content and differentiate to attract sponsors. But there’s no turning back to old media, where it’s difficult — if not impossible — to build a business case for a new IT magazine.
Nine Lives Media Inc. has the talent and experience to launch magazines. But we also have the smarts not to make such a move — unless you’re willing to write us a really big check.
Custom Growth
Kidding aside, we do generate print content in selected areas. Our custom media business — which involves research and feature projects — has grown each quarter this year. And we have a few surprises planned for Q4 and 2009.
But don’t expect to read about the surprises in traditional magazines.
More proof that print magazines will never rebound: Big staff cuts at Time Inc., Sports Illustrated, People, etc.
I give Time Inc. credit for seeking volunteers rather than just making the cuts.
[...] 19, 2008 by Joe Panettieri A few days ago I explained why Nine Lives Media Inc. would never launched a print magazine (unless someone paid us a handsome bounty to do [...]
What will replace the physical magazine and newspaper?
The laptop still weighs more than print, costs plenty and requires a delicate hard drive. The smartphone screen can’t compare to print page sizes. The office or home computer is tied to those locations. The netbook (where I enjoy Works With U) is coming closer, but none are good alternatives to the print artifact for the consumer.
TechCrunch is headed in the right direction with its tablet:
http://www.techcrunch.com/2008/08/30/update-on-the-techcrunch-tablet-prototype-a/
Print publishers should put some resources into hardware devices for periodical consumption, and the wireless retail infrastructure for single copy sales. The technology exists, and the void to be filled gets bigger with every print periodical that tries to make the move online.