Will on-line blogs replace Magazines?

**Southern_Lenders** · 04-19-2010 08:11 PM

By the end of 2009, 400 titles has folded, and in 2008, 525 saw the end of the tunnel.

I've seen "Blog" related threads here poppin up like mushrooms in the past couple months. It

seems that a blog has many advantages over a mag like:

* No worry about distribution, its all there on the web
* No paper/ Ink cost, which is a huge expense for printed mags
* Content can be provided much faster and easier than before
* Attracting ads for popular blogs would be "easier" than for a new magazine (i assume)

We have already seen the folding of some News Papers like the Seattle Post and LA Times.

Are blogs the wave of the future over traditional media?

**JohnYE** · 04-20-2010 12:32 AM

Hi SL,

Great thought-provoking post. I don't think we'll see the end of magazines any time soon. First, magazines have started and folded since the beginning of the magazine. It's generally a tough business, regardless of the changes we've seen due to the Internet. That said, it is tougher now, and you'll continue to see the herd thinned, but the big players will be around for the foreseeable future. Magazines aren't like newspapers. Newspapers are dead or dying because they used to be the providers of the latest news, and they just can't do that anymore. By the time they're printed, the story has been all over Twitter for at least 24 hours. With magazines, the stories (with a few obvious exceptions) aren't as time sensitive. I can't remember the last time I picked up a newspaper, but I wouldn't trade my Cigar Aficionado or Discover for a blog ever. There's something about those slick, shiny pages perhaps... For whatever reason, they're not replaceable in my book.

That's my two cents. Hope to see other opinions. Thanks for the question.

Best,
John

P.S. I just added this question to our Facebook Fan Page. We'll see what our fans there think...

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**Carlos™** · 04-20-2010 02:20 AM

I don't think magazines will fade anytime soon, too. In fact, some magazines have revived with added incentives for those who are online-inclined.

**Southern_Lenders** · 04-20-2010 10:59 AM

Maybe this is a stupid question, but I'd like to know why mags rely so much on advertisers for their revenue?.. if you sell say 500k copies at 7.50 a piece, how is 3.75 million not enough to cover cost of production, and over-head?

**soccerprodigy777** · 04-20-2010 12:25 PM

For the most part I agree. I do believe, however, that magazines and newspapers are going to move toward utilizing digital versions like whats offered by Zinio, for reading on devices like the Kindle, iPad, etc. It'd save a bunch on printing, distribution, etc.

As far as why revenue is an issue without advertisers, its a combination of a lot of different things. Cost of Printing (can get pretty pricey), distribution, content, how often you publish, etc make it pretty expensive to keep just one issue of a magazine running, especially if you're new. Imagine having to do that every week, or month, etc. Advertising offsets much of that cost.

**Tzarkov** · 04-21-2010 06:44 PM

I will ring a different bell.

I think offline magazines will be eventually displaces to a vintage product, much like typewritters. But journalism will continue to exist, online with blogs and establish content production clusters. like boingboing, techcrunch or the online versions of printed newspapers and magazines. I am reasonably sure of that.