PC Magazine Folds Print in Favor of Digital Edition, Web

Ziff Davis Media annouced last week that it will fold the 27-year-old print edition of PC Magazine as of February and instead offer its digital magazine edition to all subscribers.

PCMag.com will continue as the centerpiece of the publisher's network of Web sites, according to a letter sent to the magazine's readers by Lance Ulanoff, editor-in-chief, PCMag Digital Network.

The magazine, which has offered a digital edition since 2002, reported approximately 14,000 paid and 1,150 verified digital subscriptions within total paid/verified circulation of nearly 646,000 on its ABC statement for the first half of this year. Digital represented about 2.5% of total circulation.

"For thousands of you, the benefits of this unique medium are already clear," Ulanoff wrote to readers. “And those benefits will continue to multiply in the coming months, as we work hard to enhance your digital experience.”

The letter stressed the digital format's interactive capabilities, searchability and environmental friendliness, among other benefits, and explained that "the reality is that the ever-growing expense of print and delivery was turning the creation of a physical product into an untenable business proposition."

With a clearly sizable conversion process ahead, the letter also encouraged current print readers who have not yet supplied Ziff with their email addresses to click into the brand's subscriber services area and fill out the request form.

That form features 24 digital issues for $14.97, or 12 issues for $9.97. The magazine reported an average price of $23.92 for 23 issues in its first-half ABC statement.

Current print readers were also encouraged to click into a free, Web-based digital trial issue.

For full-year 2007, the magazine's Publishers Information Bureau data showed ad revenue down 29% (to $82.4 million) and ad pages down 32% (to 1,023).

However, Ziff Davis CEO Jason Young recently told PaidContent.org that PC Magazine 's online revenues have grown by an average of 42% per year since 2001, and amount to "tens of millions of dollars" each year. Young also said that the overall brand is profitable, and that third-quarter total revenue grew 18%.