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Meredith Closing Child magazine; To Be Folded Into a New Parent Portal

Magazine publisher Meredith will close the print version of Child magazine and maintain it as part of a new online portal it is developing. The company also plans to eliminate 60 employees, about half of which were employed by Child.
Child will become part of a parenthood portal, which will launch in July, and include Parents, American Baby and Family Circle content. The last print edition of Child will be the June/July issue.
AP: Des Moines-based Meredith, which publishes 25 subscription magazines including Better Homes and Gardens and owns televisions stations and Web sites, said it would record a one-time $3 million severance-related charge for the eliminated jobs. Release

Mar 27, 2007 2:17 PM ET

Posted In: Media & Publishing, Magazines

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Comments (13)

Apr 30, 2007 4:11 PM

I’m so disappointed that Child will no longer be available.  I looked forward to reading it at home each month-too make matter worse now I’m going to get Parent magazine to “fulfill my subscription”-and I don’t want it.  I don’t understand the whole Parenthood Portal thing online idea.  I don’t always want to be online-sometimes it’s nice to lounge around and actually read a book or a magazine.  Too bad.

Nicole

May 1, 2007 5:55 PM

I agree with Nicole.  I am also sad that Child magazine is ceasing to print the magazine.  There are too many online parenting sites, and the magazine always had thoughtful articles addressing real parenting issues.  I will definitely miss their reviews of children’s hospitals.

Maureen

May 4, 2007 8:21 AM

I’m diappointed as well, Child was my favorite magazine.  I get Parent and Parenting already and I don’t like them as much as Child.  I really don’t have time to read alot online.  I tend to read during my commute to work or in the bath when I put my kids to bed.  Very disappointed.  Especially since I just recently renewed my subscription as well.

Cheryl

May 9, 2007 1:00 AM

I got rid of Parents in favor of Child because the latter was just a much better magazine, especially from a content standpoint (though as a graphic designer, I always loved the design as well).

Liza Walton

May 25, 2007 9:14 PM

I was just getting ready to subscribe to Child. I bought one off the newstand, then I heard it was going under. That’s really too bad. It has great articles, and I like it a lot better than Parent & Parenting, which I get free. (They came along with various baby products we purchased.) I guess I’ll just subscribe to Wondertime instead. I won’t renew Parents/Parenting when the subscriptions period is over. What happened? Was Child losing money, or just not quite profitable enough? I’m curious.

Elizabeth Hunter

May 30, 2007 9:49 PM

What a disappointment.  Child was an excellent magazine.  My guess is that the company will end up losing revenue from those who enjoyed the paper version of Child and are not interested in the online version (such as myself and many others), as well as the lack of subscription renewals of Parents, which many of us who subscribed to Child, do not care for.  Bad move!

Gayle

Jun 15, 2007 11:30 PM

Yes, yes, yes, to all of the above. I can’t believe Child wasn’t making money, with all of that ad revenue.  And I have to say, a magazine is oftentimes preferable (for those of us whose first love is the written, rather than digital, word).  Wonder Time it is…kind of like Real Simple for the parenting set? 

Don’t want/like Parent or Parenting…who made this decision? Someone in a marketing office somewhere?

Ana

Jun 16, 2007 8:36 PM

ditto!  another new subscriber.  Why were they soliciting subscriptions even?
also agree with the comments about Parents magazine-not even in the same playing field as Child.  Agree with Liza about the design too-a great looking mag as well as great articles.  BOO!!!

karen

Jun 29, 2007 12:50 PM

I loved Child also and like many of you, I don’t have time scrolling around the internet.  A print magazine is so portable and Child had such great articles relevant to parenting—great healthcare and travel articles and just the leading edge kid’s magazine.  I like Parents but it’s completely different and much more focused on specific ages of kids (and thus much is irrelevant depending on your child’s age)

Wondertime is interesting but not nearly as informative to Child.  I scanned part of a Cookie magazine, which apparently is doing better from an ad sales perspective, but wasn’t very impressed.

Carol

Aug 29, 2007 12:15 AM

I’m very disappointed. I read child in the dental office & fell in love with it. kept googling it to get a subscription. I’m sad…..They had great children clothing places. My daughter & I would oooh ahhh over the mag.
sad in north carolina

sherri

Jul 2, 2008 10:55 AM

What will happen to the subscriptions in India. I subscribed for Child for Indian Edition through http://www.indiaplaza.in in the month of May 08 and have not heard anything from anybody about the execution. Anybody with any information, please assist. Thanks.

Navinchandra

Jul 24, 2008 8:57 AM

Please visit naaptol.com, best indian online comparison shopping portal where consumer can compare product prices and features online and buy the best things in lowest price

Online Shopping India

Oct 8, 2008 9:52 PM

I really loved this magazine.

It was like INStyle for Kids but great articles. the pictures were always lovely, and the writing great and it was on the first magazines I really came to read when I had a chance to sit down. Now I will have more reason to blog about baby clothes at
celebritybabyclothes.com
Hope all the writers found new jobs.

Baby Clothing

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