Death of magazines - even Oprah's shutters
O at Home gets folded back into O is latest casualty in the depressed magazine publishing industry
If you were thinking of launching a magazine anytime soon. Don't. Even Oprah's latest "O at Home," a quarterly magazine that's a spinoff of the popular O Magazine, is being shuttered.
The magazine had a circulation of more than 1.4 million, up from 600,000 when it launched in 2004. But in an industry where advertising budgets are evaporating, it doesn't matter.
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.
Additionally, a lot of "the magazine’s staff will move to another Hearst publication, Country Living, including the editor in chief, Sarah Gray Miller, who will take the same post at Country Living," according to the New York Times.
This news follows recent announcements by Time, Hearst and Conde Nast. Conde Nast announced companywide layoffs. Last month, Hearst folded CosmoGirl into Seventeen magazine while Time said it will cut 6% of its employees.
Bambi Francisco Roizen
Founder and CEO of Vator, a media and research firm for entrepreneurs and investors; Managing Director of Vator Health Fund; Co-Founder of Invent Health; Author and award-winning journalist.
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