What was it that they said when the “information super-highway” was first launched? Oh yeah. Print is dead. And it almost died. But then something fabulous happened.
A great sea change occurred. People who use computers found that they longed for the smell of newsprint, the portability of a slick magazine to tuck under their arm. They’re clinging to their print magazines!
Do you doubt?
For the first time since the Great Recession began, both total magazine pages and rate-card-reported revenue have posted gains, according to Publishers Information Bureau (PIB).
Magazine audiences are growing — and young adults are becoming heavy readers. The number of young readers (18+) has grown more than 4% over the past five years. Meanwhile, older audiences (50+) grew by almost 11% in the same period.
As of this year, 93% of adults overall and 96% of adults under age 35 now read magazines.
I grok these stats.
I read untold thousands of words per day. My eyes simply cannot keep it up. I need a break from the glare and the lumens. There’s the computer at work, the computer at home, the flat panel TV, the cell phone, cameras, iPods, e-Readers, camcorders. Ouch.
More than one doctor has commented to me that I should take a break from my electronic world. To ward off carpel tunnel, I use a left-handed trackball, a strange curved keyboard, a special chair, special angles for monitors and keyboards. And yet I suffer from tension headaches, blurry vision, stiff necks and back pain.
I am less patient with trolls and thumpers these days – people who pose as authoritative and knowledgeable sources. I especially despise political bloggers – cannot fathom why anybody should spend that much time ‘commenting’ about the opinions of other commenters. I know. I tried at MIXX – lead a brave fight to stay factual. But to what end? I verify everything before I repeat a single word of what I read online – especially blogs – and I never repeat a single word of what I read in comments. The product from so-called “socialization of publishing” – in my humble opinion – as thus far been less than impressive. Moreover, I think it is one of the destructive forces that are now at work in our society.
I miss professional reporters who know how to unwrap a feature story; who organize and at least try to find corroborating facts. I miss the blend of critical thinking with excellent authorship and professional presentation; a noninteractive print environment that’s easy to read with no animation, no pop-ups, no videos, podcasts or cookies. I miss discovering wonderful tidbits by accident while thumbing through my favorite magazine. Instead, I spend most of my browsing sifting through the guano. Yes, I find the gem or two; sometimes I find things that would have never found its way into a magazine, but the effort takes a toll on me physically.
There’s also the issue of portability. I have a laptop – two actually – but what’s the point? What about the ultimate portability of human-to-print interfacing with good old fashioned ink? Do you really take your laptop everywhere?
I could go on.
Print lingers because it still meets the basic marketing paradigm: it serves a useful purpose. I suppose there will come a day when 100 perfect bound pages of 80 pound gloss stock will be as rare as a rotary phone, but it hasn’t happened yet. And if the stats are correct – it’ll be quite a while yet before we will truly say that print is dead. - HP
Source: Magazine Publishers Association
