Can PC Mag Survive As An All-Digital Magazine?
November 19, 2008 by Marcus Grimm
Make no mistake – everybody who pans digital magazines will call this move another nail in the coffin for PC Magazine. The Steve Smith’s (whom we rarely agree with) and the Michael Turro’s (whom we often do) will likely not applaud the decision to go from dabbling in digital magazines to turning to them for core readership and revenue.
(Meanwhile, FOLIO posted about the death of print and the elimination of seven positions, while the digital magazine… uh never made it into the article?)
Critics will say that PC Mag should focus on the website, but maybe PC Mag knows what we’ve been saying for years: People consume digital magazines differently than they consume website content. Fewer of them read the digital magazine, but those that do stay longer, read more pages and click through at a higher rate. All the time. Period. Why shouldn’t a publisher cater differently to a different audience?
We’re not Zinio, so of course we think PC Mag could’ve chosen a better partner. From our vantage point, their strategy seems to involve driving you to their website, while we believe your content should drive traffic to you, but the fact remains: this strategy could work.
In fact, it already has. Three years ago, a british publisher killed their 30 year-old magazine (PC Mag is 27) and went all digital overnight. Today, the publisher’s revenues are up, their digital magazines always crack our Top 20 readership list, and the brand is stronger than ever. You can read their story here.
I am actually kind of excited to see what they do with this format now that they are no longer tied to a print version. If they can manage to re-think the design and de-printify the overall feel of the book, then they might be on to something. If they just take the same layout files and simply change output settings they may be in for a rude awakening. In either case one thing is certain – things are changing daily… uh, hourly… well, by the minute it seems… so this is as good a bet as any other.
Thanks for the comment, Michael – I was hoping you’d say that, and you know we agree with that thinking. Stopping a print magazine is easy. Stopping the print mentality can be more difficult.