PC Magazine print edition is shuttered

Time Inc. also shuts down Cottage Living

PC Magazine, which started in 1982, is yet another casualty in the economic downturn.The last issue of the computer magazine, which at one point grew to more than 800 pages, will be January 2009. (Meanwhile, Cottage Living, a Time Inc. magazine, is being shut down as well.)

PC Magazine publisher Ziff Davis, which recently exited from bankruptcy, will let go about seven employees from the print production side. The team will now focus its efforts on its online properties. The PCMag site will still exist, but the online network, which include sites such as ExtremeTech, Gearlog, Appscout, Smart Device Central, GoodCleanTech, DL.TV, Cranky Geeks, and PCMagCast, will now be called PCMag Digital Network. 

Rafat Ali of PaidContent sat down with Jeff Young the CEO of Ziff Davis. Here's what he found out from him.

"On the online side, he wouldn’t disclose the revenues for the PCMag brand, but said it was in “tens and tens of millions” of dollars. He said the revenues on the online side have grown an average of 42 percent yearly since 2001; digital is about 70 percent of the revenues for the PCMag brand, and overall is profitable. He said that despite the economic situation, the PCMag brand revenues grew about 18 percent in Q308, and thinks that it will hold up despite advertising downturn due to the power of the brand. Of course competition is heavy for those shrinking ad dollars, from everyone including other established brands like CNET, to newer ones like Engadget and others.

As for the status of its gaming group, which consists of its 1Up online brand and other gaming sites and EGM print magazine (the only print book left within Ziff Davis), Young said it is considering strategic options for the division. Same is true for its now shuttered DigitalLife consumer tech expo event. The company has tried to sell the gaming division before as well but was not able to find the right buyer then, our sources say."

It's not a surprise that the economic conditions and the shift toward online publishing has claimed the existence of such a well-known magazine.  

Earlier this month, Oprah's "O at Home," a quarterly magazine that's a spinoff of the popular O Magazine, was shut down. Magazine publishing is in the dumps. Last year, it outpaced U.S. economic growth by 30%. But revenue has been declining each quarter this year. Magazine revenue declined nearly 9% in the third quarter, according to the Magazine Publishers of America.

(Image source: Wikidpedia)