Why so negative?

When people talk about the changes in media and how it effects, in our case glossies, it is often not very positive. They are afraid that technological changes and new media will blow away the printed media. But why? It could also be a potential strength for the industry.

These technological changes are very important for all industries, but for magazines it is sometimes hard to adapt to this change. The magazines are a printed format, this isn’t going to change soon, now they can use the internet as an extend. Some magazine publishers really try to combine the digital platform and the traditional printed magazine. The publishers which were most succesful were the ones who used strong brands on different media platforms. They also used it as an advertisement tool, like advertising online (PriceWaterhouseCoopers, 25). But with the use of cross media in magazines there must be a organisational change. They have to keep up with the interest of the readers, and the employees must have technological skills (PriceWaterHouseCoopers, 27).

In an article of the Guardian in the United Kingdom in 2008 they discussed how the sales of magazines changed. The title of the article is self-explanatory: ABCs: Women's glossies record strong performances.In the article there is a long list of sales increases and sometimes decreases from different magazines. The women’s glossy sector increased with 12,1% in 2008. This shows that the new media doesn’t push away the printed media. There were media changes in 2008, like the always increasing use of the internet (EIAA). But the glossy sales were also increasing.
In our previous blogs there were a few examples of the use of cross-media in magazines. It is shown that the new media can really be an extend of the printed version. So it is important to see the positive effects of these changes, because change is, more often than not, a good thing!

Literature:

http://www.pwc.com/nl_NL/nl/assets/documents/pwc-future-of-magazine-publishing.pdf bladzijde 25, 27.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2008/aug/14/abcs.pressandpublishing4

European Interactive Advertising Association (EIAA):
http://www.eiaa.net/news/eiaa-articles-details.asp?lang=1&id=79