As Downtown Shuts Down, City Magazines Confront a Crisis

As the COVID-19 pandemic forces marketers to tighten their advertising budgets and organizers to cancel or postpone events, media companies of all sizes are scrambling to account for lost revenue. In cities across the U.S., a virtual suspension of public life is taking a disastrous toll on alt-weeklies—many of which entered 2020 on unstable financial footing—but it's also having an acute impact on the nation's city and regional magazines, who devote much of their pages and resources to guiding readers toward experiences: things to get out and do, see or eat. On Monday alone, Time Out Group announced it was suspending the print editions of each of its roughly 40 city-specific magazines worldwide, while San Diego Magazine laid off nearly its entire staff, apparently shutting down after more than 70 years as a result of the pandemic, reports the Voice of San Diego, though its owner says he hopes to restart operations after the crisis is over. "After this has peaked, there will be plenty to report about if, when and how places are coming back," says Margaret Seiler, managing editor at another city magazine, Portland Monthly. "But those activities that have ground to a halt include a lot of our advertisers, too. So while we're pivoting to more immediate digital coverage and revamping plans for our sure-to-be-delayed next print issue, we're also not sure we'll all still be employed." Mike Schaffer, editor of the D.C.-based monthly Washingtonian, notes that while paid... Continue reading at 'Folio Magazine'

[ Folio Magazine | 2020-03-23 14:46:51 UTC ]
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As Downtown Shuts Down, City Magazines Confront a Crisis

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