Ziff Davis to Make PC Magazine a Web-only Publication

Posted on November 21, 2008

The New York Times reports that Ziff Davis is going to make its flagship title, PC Magazine, a web-only publication.

"The viability for us to continue to publish in print just isn't there anymore," Jason Young, chief executive of Ziff Davis, said in an interview.
While most magazines make their money mainly from print advertising, PC Magazine derives most of its profit from its Web site. More than 80 percent of the profit and about 70 percent of the revenue come from the digital business, Mr. Young said, and all of the writers and editors have been counted as part of the digital budget for two years.
The change will not require much of an adjustment, because the focus has been on getting articles to the Web first, said Lance Ulanoff, the editor of the PCMag Digital Network, which is what PCMag.com and its accompanying Web sites were renamed on Wednesday. "All content goes online first, and print has been cherry-picking for some time what it wants for the print edition," Mr. Ulanoff said.

PC Magazine is a technology publication so all of this publication's readers should already be online. The move from print to web is a big trend in the magazine and newspaper industry. This is just the beginning of a period that will see many, many magazines ceasing print editions and moving solely online.

Earlier this month we learned that the Christian Science Monitor would be ceasing its print daily to focus on the Internet. U.S. News and World Report also recently announced plans to make a similar transition.