Saturday, December 14, 2013

Newsweek Reenters Print --A Trend?


“Do you believe in miracles?”

Those were the words uttered by TV sportscaster Al Michaels in the waning seconds of the upset US hockey team's win over Russia -- for the gold -- in 1980. They may also apply to what is about to take place at Newsweek.

Newsweek, some 20 years ago, had 3.3 million weekly readers. It was one of the big three news vehicles, competing with Time and US News and World Report. Together, this trio represented some of the best in-depth journalism of its day.

But times changed.

US News and World Report went digital-only several years ago and has disappeared from its scale of relevance.

Newsweek, went digital-only over a year ago, went through ownership changes, and now has announced it will resume weekly publication next month.

What a reversal! Usually, once you go digital, you don’t go back to print. Will this be a new trend? Could other digital sources start to publish a print version? One would think a Gawker mag could compete with People, US, and its printed ilk.

If I was Amazon, Google, or Facebook, I’d capitalize on their brand and extend into creating a printed magazine.

Newsweek believes it can survive this time around. It has new deals with its printer, it will raise its cover price, and it will seek to separate itself with superior content. The ad market is improving and the recession is over, so that should help.

Publishers continue to experiment, seeking to find the right balance of cost and content for availability in all formats. Newsweek’s return to print is a very encouraging step in the right direction.


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Brian Feinblum’s views, opinions, and ideas expressed in this blog are his alone and not that of his employer, Media Connect, the nation’s largest book promoter. You can follow him on Twitter @theprexpert and email him at brianfeinblum@gmail.com. He feels more important when discussed in the third-person. This is copyrighted by BookMarketingBuzzBlog © 2013

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