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www.discounderworld.com. feature article: is print dead? page
21
 Is  Print  Dead?
 B y S tace y C hi lds
 
closing up shop. Marketsare slowing, times are
hard, and prots aren’t
like they used to be. Withthe current economicclimate, publishers, bigand small, are undermore pressure to suspendpublications or cut titles.The death of print is acommon topic inmagazines, blogs,websites and newspapers.
The ‘rise’ of digital
media is usually thescapegoat, but is itactually to blame? And isprint really dying, or is itbeing reinvented?
www.discounderworld.com. feature article: is print dead? page
23
Is Print Dead?
We are living ininteresting times. Peopleare losing their jobs.Unemployment inAustralia is over 5%
for the rst time in ve
years; in America it hit a25-year high at 8.1%; and
New Zealand’s
unemployment level is at
the highest gure since
2002. We are seeing thecollapse of manycompanies as more andmore employers are
One person who believes thatprint will always endure is JackYan*. Jack launched
Lucire 
 magazine online in 1997, andafter seven years on the web, hebranched into a print edition. Heknows both the print anddigital publishing industries insideand out, and in an interview withdisco underworld, he shared someof his knowledge and experienceon the subject of print and digitalmedia.Jack mentioned that the hardestpart of 
Lucire’s
conversion fromweb to print was that they wentfrom spending $1000 a month inweb hosting on the Internet, topaying $60,000 per issue in print.Despite the enormousadditional costs of printing, Jackestimates that to make moneyon the web, sites would need todrive in around two million plusviewers per week, “which is waymore than the 40,000–70,000 thatsomething like
Lucire 
draws.” Asfor why they crossed over, “we
had nished 2003 on a high, with
numerous awards andnominations, which gave the
Lucire 
brand a really good push.Then print gave us prestige:people knew we were serious.”
Lucire 
, the print publication, iscurrently subscribed to around theworld, and it also has launched aRomanian version. When askedwhy his print publicationcontinues to achieve in the currentmarketplace while some othersare failing, Jack says “printmagazines have found it toughbecause advertisers are gettingmore uncertain about them.People love print magazinesand the key is to create one thatengages consumers, but there'sno real proof, short of watchingpeople read, that they spend moretime on ours compared to ourcompetitors. A lot of mags don'tengage – some are slappedtogether and it shows.”In the future Jack believes “peoplewill go mobile for news, web forresearch, and print to have acollectible. It's why
Lucire 
hasgone more lavish of late”.It is a valid idea, and one backedup by a contact in a major printcommunication provider, and
 
www.discounderworld.com. feature article: is print dead? page
25
“Of themagazinebuyers andsubscribersamong you,85% of yoursubscriptionswere tointerestpublications.None of thereaderssubscribed tonewspapers.”
won’t. It’s the old chicken and
egg scenario; if good writers and
designers aren’t invested in, thenpeople won’t buy the material, butif people don’t buy the material
then the quality of the magazine
can’t be created and around and
around we go. Before digital,people had to put up withwhatever was fed to them in printmedia. Now they have the choicenot to.There is nothing like curling up
in bed, by the re or at the beach
with a magazine. They have atactile quality that digital mediahas not yet managed to tap into.Print is permanent, able to becollected, cut out, collaborated,displayed and stored in a way thatmakes record keeping and referrala breeze. It can be brought on therun to the bus/train/plane, or ina favourite book store, with cozychairs and great coffee. It can beread in waiting rooms, in the bath,on the loo, and in the check-outaisle.
Continued on page 54
the subscription habits of discounderworld readers. The contactdescribed changing marketdemographics, along with thecurrent economic conditions, ashaving the biggest impact onpurchasing decisions and thechanges in readership choices.While newspaper sales are downacross the board, magazinesfocusing on lifestyle are doingwell. These magazines cater to
specic interests such as art,
science, food and culture. Due to
the biggest baby boom in 30 years,
baby and toddler magazines are
also ourishing, as well as
magazines aimed at those whocan afford a luxurious lifestyle.A quick survey of the newspapersand magazines that discounderworld readers subscribe to or
buy reects this. Of the magazine
buyers and subscribers amongyou, 85% of your subscriptionswere to interest publications,ranging from topics like design,architecture, hip-hop, food, wood-working, science and technology.The other 15% were made up of 
business titles, tness titles and
technology titles. None of thereaders subscribed to newspapers.
Reecting the downturn in print
revenue, many of the readersstated that they subscribe to fewermagazines now than they have inthe past. The reasons given showthe importance of the quality of content and value to the consumer.One reader said of two designmagazines she used to subscribeto: “they were good magazinesbut the same layout andcelebrities/commentators starts tograte on you after a while. So I'drather browse them in a bookshopthan buy them now.” Another said“after subscribing to a few printmagazines, the content becomesrepetitive and predictable. I'drather subscribe to a magazinethat is exciting and I can't wait toopen and absorb.”Digital media may be the fuel that
is feeding the re in the
decline of print, but the hand thatlit the match causing job lossesand shifts to the digital sphere,was the media industry itself. Thebottom line is that if theinformation or experience apublication supplies is notvaluable enough to consumers to justify spending money on it, thenin these economic times, they
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