PC Magazine Closes Print Edition; Goes 100% Digital
By Guest Author
Ziff Davis Media has announced that the January 2009 issue of PC Magazine will be its last print edition, at which time it will convert to an online-only format at PCMag.com. The magazine, which was founded in 1982, has faced increasingly stiff competition from technology websites such as Engadget, Gizmodo, CNET and CrunchGear, and has found that many of its techy-savvy readers prefer to get their news online. As a result, PC Magazine was forced to cut its frequency in half, from 25 issues per year to just 12, while witnessing its ad pages drop by 35.8 percent in the first half of 2008.
Ziff Davis, which exited Chapter 11 bankruptcy in June 2008, will now focus on the PCMag Digital Network of sites, which includes include ExtremeTech, Gearlog, Appscout, Smart Device Central, GoodCleanTech, DL.TV, Cranky Geeks, and PCMagCast.
The magazine’s closure will result in the loss of seven print production jobs and comes on the heels of the Christian Science Monitor’s announcement less than a month ago that it would discontinue its daily print edition and move online. Unfortunately for those in the print media industry, these two closures are likely to be only the first in a series, as more and more readers begin to go online for their news.
4 comments November 19th, 2008
