What Happened to 50 Magazines Since the Pandemic Began
Kathryn Hopkins
7 min read
When the pandemic hit, some media analysts warned it would speed the decline of print magazines, predicting that more titles would fold or scrap print to focus on digital operations, while those left would continue to trim frequency.
Two years on, what has happened to print magazines even as pandemic pressures have eased somewhat, the industry is still plagued by an ongoing decline in print advertising and digital competition?
In an analysis of 50 U.S.-based titles, WWD found that 26, or 52 percent, had a lower print frequency this year compared to 2019, while another 10 have ceased print operations completely. Not all of this is directly linked to the pandemic, with some occurring prior to March 2020, while other moves are due to the general decline of print publishing and more recently a paper strike.
Out of the big three publishers — Hearst Magazines, Condé Nast and Meredith Corp. — the latter has gone through the most change by far. Since its $2.7 billion sale to digital media company Dotdash last year, its new owner, now known as Dotdash Meredith, revealed that six of the magazines it acquired — InStyle, Entertainment Weekly, EatingWell, Health, Parents and People en Español — would become digital-only publications. The move resulted in about 200 job losses, including InStyle editor in chief Laura Brown and some of the company’s highest paid publishers. Up until then, InStyle was the last women’s fashion magazine in the U.S. still publishing 12 issues a year, even during 2020 when producing shoots and obtaining items from designers was extremely difficult in certain months. Shape magazine, meanwhile, ceased print at the end of last year.
“We are investing in our brands and products: everything from enhancing the paper quality and trim sizes to ensuring world-class editorial and beautiful photography,” a Dotdash Meredith spokeswoman said. “We are infusing fresh energy across these brands in all formats to make sure they offer rich and engaging content and experiences in new and innovative ways. Dotdash Meredith continues to provide incredible value to millions of people with our print products and will print more than 350 million magazines in 2022.”
People Magazine, its biggest money spinner, remains steady at 52 issues a year, although management recently brought in Liz Vaccariello to succeed Dan Wakeford as editor in chief of the celebrity title. In a recent interview with WWD, she said, “People very much still thrives as a print product. Subscriptions have remained steady for more than a decade. We still have a readership of 25 million, and that’s just print.”
There have also been big changes at Hearst. Before the global pandemic struck, Elle and Cosmopolitan each published 12 issues a year in 2019, but Elle is now down to 10 issues a year, while Cosmopolitan revealed that it will print eight-themed issues a year, each dedicated to a different subject and numbered rather than tied to a specific month.
“I feel like doing fewer issues isn’t about fewer touchpoints. It’s about making the print touchpoint a richer, more meaningful and ultimately longer lasting one,” said Cosmopolitan editor in chief Jessica Pels.
Hearst’s Harper’s Bazaar, meanwhile, dipped to nine issues in 2020, but is now back at 10. For this year, both Men’s Health and Women’s Health will both publish nine issues instead of the usual 10, but a source put that down to an ongoing paper strike.
As for Marie Claire, Hearst sold that to Future plc last year and the new owner wasted no time cutting back on print and plans to publish just two issues a year, in May and September, the latter being the most crucial month of the year for magazine publishers as they seek to grab ad dollars. But even before the sale, Hearst quietly reduced Marie Claire’s print frequency from 11 issues to just seven in 2020.
Outside of Hearst’s fashion offerings, Esquire, Elle Decor, House Beautiful, O, The Oprah Magazine and Town & Country have all declined in frequency since 2019.
For Condé Nast, a handful of titles have seen minor changes in terms of frequency over the past few years. Perhaps the most interesting is Vogue, run by longtime editor in chief and Conde’s chief content officer Anna Wintour, which now publishes 11 issues a year instead of 12. Allure, Vanity Fair and Wired have also dipped slightly in frequency.
One Condé Nast title not included in the list of magazines analyzed by WWD is Love, the biannual publication set up by Katie Grand in partnership with the publisher in 2009, as it was until recently based in London. Following Grand’s exit, the title moved to New York, but it was understood at the time that the main focus would be social media and video. No official statement has been made on the future of the print product, but a source told WWD that the publication is set to be relaunched sometime this year. Only time will tell if there will be a print component.
In the case of glossy newspaper supplements, WSJ. Magazine, the monthly fashion and luxury-focused insert of the weekend edition of The Wall Street Journal, shrank from 12 issues in 2019 to eight in 2021, with a renewed focus on digital, while The New York Times made no changes to its two publications — T Magazine and The New York Times Magazine. While not a supplement, Vox’s New York Magazine also held steady at 26 issues.
The remaining list of those that reduced frequency since 2019 include W, The Atlantic, Time, Out, Men’s Journal, Fortune, Forbes, C Magazine, Paper, Playboy and California Sunday Magazine. The latter was shuttered entirely after Emerson Collective, a foundation started by Laurene Powell Jobs, pulled its funding.
Time Out New York, which was not included in the below list as it was unclear how many issues it published prior to the pandemic, paused print in March 2020 with many city-dwellers working from home and fewer commuters in the city. That’s understood to still be under review. In contrast, Time Out is back in print in London, Lisbon, Porto, Barcelona and Madrid.
In the other direction, a number of new magazines have launched during this period, such as Grazia, Playgirl, Jay Z’s Edition, Stefano Tonchi’s Palmer and Citizen, an independent magazine documenting Black life and culture. Many of the new categories are niche and have smaller circulations as publishers look at new models when it comes to print publishing.
