Magazine publishers are still tightening their belts three years after the nightmare of the advertising recession shook the industry to its toes. But the itch to launch new magazines shows no sign of going away. In 2012, veteran publishers and novice entrepreneurs launched a total of 195 print titles, a healthy bump over the 181 that were launched in 2011. And only 74 titles folded this year, compared to 142 a year ago, according to MediaFinder.com. The online database of U.S. and Canadian publications released its year-end numbers Monday. MediaFinder also counted 32 digital-only launches in 2012, compared to 58 a year ago. Seven digital-only titles folded, compared to 10 in that category last year. The drop in the number of new online magazines was a sign of the difficulty publishers have had making money from digital publications, according to Trish Hagood, president of MediaFinder. There were also 24 print titles, most notably Newsweek and Spin, that fell into the netherworld of digital-only publication. Last year, however, 29 magazines went from print to digital-only. This year's new print titles include Rodale's Best Life, the upscale men's magazine that the publisher folded in 2009 yet resurrected in August. In the category of titles for the 1% it was joined by Du Jour, from longtime luxury magazine impresario Jason Binn, who once ran Niche Media. Among the closures were American Artist and Martha Stewart's Whole Living. "It's encouraging that we still have print... Continue reading at 'Crains New York'
[ Crains New York | 2012-12-10 00:00:00 UTC ]