As Print Mags’ Suffering Deepens, The Web Side Pays A High Price
The digital side of the business is supposed to be the salvation for magazine companies, which, like their newspaper counterparts, are shedding print jobs.
But as a recent NY Observer piece suggests, digital staffers are hardly protected. And in a few cases, they’re bearing the brunt of the layoffs.
– Growth offers no safety: It’s true that online ad growth has been slowing for over a year. But all the latest forecasts — such as today’s downward revision from Barclays — still expect respectable gains of at least 5 percent next year. Nevertheless, CondéNet felt the need to make across-the-board cuts last month in preparation for reduced revenues. In addition, its parent Condé Nast said it was suspending all website revamps, and last week decided to close a blog network tied to Glamour, Allure and Self magazines.
More on further proof and value after the jump
– Further proof: Another example of cuts falling surprisingly hard on the online side came in October, when Mansueto Ventures concentrated its 20 job cuts on the digital side of Fast Company as part of a decision to fold Mansueto Digital into the company
As the print divisions of the magazine brands continue to reduce their expenses (or shut down) their companion web site divisions will need to pick up more (or all) of the expense related to the content and business operations. That is going to hit hard as many web divisions have long benefited from free content and experienced managers who were covered by prints P&L.
The industry eats its young. Yet again.