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[/responsive]Well, that didn’t take long.
After announcing in 2012 that it was scrapping its print edition, T.H.E. Journal has announced it will begin publishing again in print this month, writes Michael Rondon in Folio:.
“When the decision was made to cease the publication in print, it was based on indicators that digital-only strategies were growing in popularity with advertisers,” 1105’s COO Henry Allain told Rondon.
“We discovered that may be true in some markets, but clearly not in the K-12 ed-tech space. This segment of the market continues to have a vibrant print offering…We needed to be back as part of the mix.”
That need was apparently made crystal clear not so much by the readers themselves but by the advertisers.
“In this market segment many agencies and marketers are committed to integrated buys,” he said. “We found ourselves at a disadvantage when we didn’t offer print as one component of the buy…It was a bit frustrating for the sales team to have to continually deal with the question: ‘Where is the print component of this proposal?”
Heading back into print seems to be paying off, as Rondon notes that their ad-to-editorial ratio for the new issue is a robust 50/50, which is “significantly higher than it had been for digital-only editions,” said the magazine’s editor-in-chief Christopher Piehler.
So how do the readers feel about the move back into print?
“When I talk to the connected educators who make up our audience, they say that their computer desktop is more crowded than their literal desktop. For these people, whose job is to grapple constantly with a barrage of emails, texts and tweets, reading something in print can be a way to relax and really focus,” Piehler told Rondon. “We did a survey that showed reader interest, but for me the most powerful motivation came when a member of my editorial board said to me, ‘You know, I hate to admit it, but I read the magazine more when it was in print.'”
And that last statement is, in a nutshell, why advertisers are once again demanding to be in print.