Farewell to PC Magazine and Possibly EGM (In Print Anyway)

A bit of sad news for those of us who looked forward to getting PC Magazine in the mail came in the form of an article on The New York Times website.

This past Wednesday, Ziff Davis (our parent company) declared that they would cease publication of the print version of PC Magazine. Still to be made available online, it is a bittersweet ending for those of us who have enjoyed the 27-year-old magazine and who looked forward to curling up on the couch and flipping through the pages.

You cannot really blame Ziff Davis for this though, a lot of print magazines are dropping print editions in lieu of digital versions not only because the demand for them is weakening, but also due to the increase in cost for advertising, paper, printing and shipping.

According to John Fennell, a professor at the University of Missouri School of Journalism:

“If you look at the list of the magazines that have gone to online, almost all of them have been magazines in trouble. Magazines in general are going to be dependent on print advertising for a long time into the future.”

While it was acknowledged by Jason Young, chief executive of Ziff Davis, that PC Magazine would remain profitable for the remainder of 2008, the undeniable fact is that fewer advertisements along with rising production costs will cause the magazine to lose money come 2009. In addition, circulation for the magazine has been in severe decline since the later part of the ’90s and went from having 1.2 million subscribers to 600,000 by 2008.

“The viability for us to continue to publish in print just isn’t there anymore,” stated Young in an interview. “Obviously, the macroeconomic condition is putting pretty significant pressure on all forms of advertising,” he added.

Seven different advertising, circulation and production positions will be nullified, but considering that a total of about 140 people currently work on PC Magazine and its website, that may not seem like much of a cut in the job department. However, these cuts may be felt elsewhere because the cost of producing a viable print magazine has also been felt over at Electronic Gaming Monthly (EGM). The possibility of moving EGM to an online publication only, is also seriously being considered.

According to Young, Ziff Davis is still considering the possibility of moving EGM, but would not make a decision before the end of the year. You may recall that the same thing happened to another Ziff Davis property back in April of this year when Games for Windows (GFW) ceased paper publication and became an exclusively online magazine.

PC Magazine, like most forms of print, profited mostly from advertising, but lately it derived 80 percent profit and 70 percent revenue strictly from online distribution. This change to online will not require too much downtime, because the focus over the past year or so has been to publish all article online first–before they were added to the print version.

Current subscribers to PC Magazine will receive the final issue in the mail during January 2009. If like me, and many others you mourn the loss of holding a nice crisp magazine in your hand as you lounge around, you can always dig into your wallets and subscribe to more print publications. Online magazines may be easier to access and are usually free, but it is not as comfortable of a read sitting at a computer desk or staring at a blinding screen all the time. Therefore, subscribe, subscribe, subscribe! It is too late to save PC Magazine and possibly EGM, but it may not be too late for any other magazine you enjoy.