associationFOCUS | Volume 8, Issue 2

» They trust printed media more than digital media. Social media and blogging are fast ways to communicate, but that speed means there’s little or no time for editing and fact-checking, and there’s also nothing to protect viewers from a barrage of online noise. The contrast with printed media such as magazines is stark. Magazines feel real, personal and —most important— they are curated to improve quality and eliminate noise. Although baby boomers read the most magazines per month, at 9.2, Gen Xers and millennials are not far behind at 9.1 and 8.9, respectively. Of all forms of print, U.S. newspapers seem to be in the most trouble because of lost advertising revenue. The entire industry shrank by approx - imately $4.5 billion between 2011 and 2018. Even major newspapers, like The New York Times and The Washington Post, have had to lay off employees despite being respected information sources for decades. One in five U.S. newspapers has gone out of business according to an article in The New York Times by Lara Takenaga, dated Dec. 21, 2019. That’s a full 20%. Many communities no longer have a reliable source of local news. Lack of adequate coverage has caused the rise of small and independent industry publications that can focus on otherwise neglected topics. Although these publications have small staffs and small circulation sizes, their content and reach are filling a need that captures younger audiences and even the attention of legacy publications. Please note, the current downward trajectory for U.S. newspapers may not be a permanent thing. Jeff Bezos, the CEO of Amazon, bought The Washington Post for $250 million in 2013 and has been tinkering since then with making the online version profitable. The paper’s digital subscriptions and revenue from digital advertising created two profitable years, 2017 and 2018, despite declining numbers for other newspapers in other places. The trend in magazines is for smaller, niche-market magazines that are published less frequently than they used to be. Print magazines that have a website are considered to be more credible than digi - tal-only websites because people think the quality is higher and more trust - worthy. They are willing to pay more money in exchange for better quality. » The Harvard Busi - ness Review used to publish 10 issues per year. In 2017, the magazine cut the number of issues down to six, added digital benefits and invested money to make the six print issues better. Subscriptions increased by 10%. » In 2018, Bonnier Publishing decided to make its monthly Popular Science maga - zine into a quarterly magazine instead. It also increased the cost of a subscription. Subscription yield increased 30% in a single year because of the two changes. Some major brands have been using sophisticated printed magazines and catalogs to build their continued on page 12 association FOCUS | 11