Newspapers and magazines have well publicized woes. People keep asking me if the time is coming when print publications will be entirely replaced by electronic media.
Some publications will disappear – some already have. Yet it’s reasonable to conclude that print media will always have a role to play as a complement to their electronic versions, or vice versa.
Here are 6 reasons why print media won’t disappear:
-
1. Despite the rise of the Internet, magazine
readership has risen 4.3% over last 5 years, and during 12-year life of Google,
rose 11%, according to Mediamark Research & Intelligence. Pundits used to
say movies, then TV, would kill magazines, but each medium carved its own
niche.
2. Magazines are a shotgun, the Internet more like a rifle. Most people go to the Internet to find specific information about something they know they are looking for. Magazines satisfy intellectual curiosity with a broad field of vision that presents an opportunity to learn things readers never thought about before.
3. Magazines enable the reader to flip pages easily and scan content at a glance much more easily than electronic information sources.
4. Magazines can be passed around to multiple readers – a big boon to advertisers. It’s easy to forward individual articles via the Internet but not an entire publication.
5. You can take magazines anywhere to read on airplanes, the beach, etc. E-readers like the iPad and Kindle may eventually erode this advantage, but they have not yet passed the test of time.
6. Magazines remain a distinct experience from electronic media. Golfers who take up fishing don’t necessarily give up golf. Each has its times and place.
