Another parenting magazine closes shop
Posted by Richard Kuhlenschmidt Thu, 01 Jun 2006 03:05:00 GMT
This article from the speaks volumes about what is happening in the media today. From fishbowlNY:
“Another MSM parenting publication is closing down due to lack of advertisers. Bundle, the year-old New York-based magazine for “pregnant women and moms with babies and toddlers, from 0 to 3” with a rate base of 300,000, has published its last issue, FishbowlNY has learned.
Bundle’s Spring 2006 issue currently on newsstands will be its last.”
This come news comes along at the same time that “Child Magazine” is downsizing and Martha Stewart is scaling back its “Kids” magazine.
Now this can’t be because that are fewer parents nor does it mean that parents aren’t as interested anymore about how to parent.
My suspicion is that parents are turning to alternative media, such as the internet for their information, as evident by the explosion of web sites and blogs that deal with families and parenting.
Let’s face it, the internet has real-time information from real parents, not something that has been sitting around an editor’s desk for a few months. It’s no wonder advertisers are shunning print media.
Maybe those magazines did not do more than deliver the advertisements? I never read Bundle or Kids so I can’t judge them myself. Magazines often fail in their first few years, just like restaurants. Mothering magazine, which is much older, seems to be doing quite well. They also have a serious, complementary web presence. So I’m not sure if alternative parenting websites will entirely replace print anytime soon.
Raj,
Good point. There will always be room for quality journalisn. However, there is hard evidence that newpaper and magazine readership has been declining in the past few years, their readers must be going somewhere.