It was my birthday last week and I received a small parcel from my lovely mum in the UK. As it’s a football world cup year, the parcel was full of footy paraphernalia including some monthly football magazines. Flicking through one of them, I was immediately struck by the impact of online on print media content.
There was an article praising Manchester City’s new manager, Roberto Mancini, acknowledging his success in turning the team’s fortunes around with four straight wins and suggesting his appointment was a long overdue masterstroke. The trouble is that since the article was written his side has been on a dismal run of form and he’s now widely predicted to be on the way out at the end of the season.
The magazine was the current issue, but was almost immediately out of date. It can’t hope to compete with online news and opinion in an industry that moves so quickly.
There are obvious parallels with IT media. It’s another fast moving industry where online sites have become dominant in breaking news. Even that’s not quick enough for some with many online publications providing real-time updates on the iiNet vs AFACT court case via twitter.
That’s not to say that print publications are dead, it’s just that they are evolving and are re-evaluating the value that they provide. The number of titles that cover product news is almost zero and any news they do cover often takes a more analytical slant rather than simply reporting facts. The emphasis is definitely on analysis and opinion.
This works for me as I think most people (certainly Gen X and above) still prefer the feel of paper in their hands when reading, but the march of e-readers, iPads and smartphones may soon change this as well. So what is the future of the monthly magazine?
