In the article by expert blogger John N. Pasmore, he indicates that when saying print media is going down, one can include the sections of magazines as well. Niche markets, such as magazines for African Americans, or Hip Hop magazines like The Source are sitting in bankruptcy now. He suggests that a print magazine has to sell at least 40% (4 out of 10 magazines) of its printed copies to customers in order to survive and magazines sell increasingly below this number. In the end it is advertisers who pay for the 60% of newspapers which are not sold, and with the current economic recession advertisers do not have the necessary money to pay for them, especially if the majority of magazines are not sold anyways. Many magazines try to make up the deficit by selling discount subscriptions, such as the yearly Cosmopolitan, which can be purchase for $16.96 in comparison to annually $42.00 cover price, but with little chance to succeed. Finally he notifies that magazines are moving from their printed version to an online version.
http://www.fastcompany.com/blog/john-n-pasmore/mostly-def/end-print
Pasmore, J.N. (2008, February 15). The End of print?. Retrieved from http://www.fastcompany.com/blog/john-n-pasmore/mostly-def/end-print
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Wow! I'm actually shocked! I had no idea that magazines are in such a devastating position. In our sociology class we discussed exactly this topic and someone mentioned a source predicting the complete dissapearance of the written media in the next 2-5 years. It is really incredible how in very short time we succeeded to improve one media so much that we actually defeated the other one.
ReplyDeleteAnyway, great post and also blog in general. It is an interesting topic to discuss :)
Hi Pete,
ReplyDeleteFirst of all, your blog is very interesting. I also did not know fact that the magazines are in such position. I have to say that I did not notice that about the newspapers around me- for example in my family. I cannot imagine the morning of my father without newspaper. Even if you can find every info online, the printed press is something like a ritual. You buy a coffee, the newspapers, and there are still many people who do not want to change it. On the other hand, I agree that I notice this trend in magazines. I am not buying the magazines anymore. If I want to know something about celebrities, I go to interent. I would say that this signifies one thing- at least it is my personal feeling- I still more belive something which is on the paper than something which is on net.
I hope the printing press will not die because it has a long tradition and I still find it as a part of a modern world.
Bara
Well, I had no idea about this situation you are mentionning. I have a subscription for two magazines and also for the newspapers. Even though I know that I can find all of the articles on the internet, I still prefer the printed version. And I believe there are still many people who will stay devoted to the printing press. It has a tradition; plus, it makes us more flexible and not so dependent on the internet. We already spend so much time on the computer so why to spend there even more time by reading the news?
ReplyDeleteI also did not realize magazines were in such a bad shape. I know only from my perspective that I don't read newspapers any more - I follow news on the Internet - but I occasionally read a magazine. I used to subscribe to Level magazine, but I don't anymore and now I buy like one issue a year. As I think of it there is no magazine that I read regularly now. It is strange that we have become so dependent on the Internet, we did not even realize it. I read books of course, but I really seldom find any information in non-Internet sources. That's something worth thinking about.
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