WSJ.com has enjoyed a 94% increase in online traffic compared to June 2007, according to the company’s internal traffic numbers. The site had 16.2 million unique users this June, with total page views up 45% to 150 million. MediaWeek (June 2, 2008)
The New York Times’ Stephen J. Dubner raises some interesting questions about Time Inc.’s new, Netflix-like Maghound.com online magazine service. Chief among them – do readers really want to trade in and out magazines the way they do movies? (Doesn’t the industry make a lot of hay out of readers’ deep connections to particular titles?) Dubner does see Maghound’s [...]
Hearst Magazines announced that it will shutter Quick & Simple magazine effective with the July 29th issue that is currently on newsstands. The company will instead shift its focus to the 300,000-circulation magazine’s “newly enhanced Web site.” A representative for Hearst said that the company was still “committed to introducing and acquiring print titles, investing [...]
ZenithOptimedia, which is owned Publicis Groupe, has downgraded its growth forecast for advertising spending in the U.S. to 3.5 percent from its initial forecast of 4.1%. The company also predicts that global internet ad spending will grow 26.7 percent this year, and will surpass its prediction that online ads will account for 12.3 percent of [...]
Investor and former Viacom exec Russ Pillar says his company, the 5850 Group, is working to raise capital for Bonnie Fuller Media, which will offer mostly digital, female-oriented media on topics like gossip, fashion and romance, under the direction of renowned editor Bonnie Fuller. “It’s going to be media by, for and about women,” Ms. [...]
Instead of publishers sending out content to their audiences, audiences are now sending content to each other via Facebook, Digg, and other networking site according to Frank Cutitta, the general manager of IDG Connect. At the 2008 Circulation Management Conference, Cutitta spoke about how he helped form IDG Connect, a centralized database and lead-generation vehicle, [...]
Cricket Magazine Group, a division of Carus Publishing, has launched three new “microsite” websites with interactive content for children from ages three though fourteen. A press release from publisher appears in its entirety below.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Cricket, Spider, and Ladybug Magazines Launch New Web Sites for Kids
Exciting new interactive Web sites challenge, enlighten, and entertain young [...]
IDG’s PC World is trying something that no other technology site has ever done: directly linking from its own reviews to those from competitive sites. CEO Mike Kisseberth says that even though they “believe we have the best technology product reviews available, we understand and acknowledge that buyers want to evaluate the opinions of multiple [...]
Women’s Health has recently launched Fit Coach, a pay for content online title focusing on fitness and nutrition. With the $3.50 per week charge, subscribers will have access to custom fitness and nutrition goals, customizable workouts, meal plans, a calorie tracker, and social networking tools.Folio (June 26, 2008)
Maghound.com, Time Inc’s online subscription service for magazines, is finally set to launch this September, after nearly 4 years of development. So far, 280 titles are currently online with the service, with hopes to have 300 participating by the launch, and 400 by the end of the year. The site lets users choose titles from [...]