Categories: OLD Media Moves

Conde Nast Portfolio still needs work

AÂ recent survey of media people by Media Life magazine shows that people in the industry remain unconvinced about the future success of new business magazine Conde Nast Portfolio, writes Lisa Snedeker.

Snedeker wrote, “As it turns out, while media people applaud CondÃ© Nast for a smart launch, there’s still lots of doubt over whether Portfolio has or can create a need among readers.

“Some 15.6 percent of respondents agreed with the statement: ‘I give it all A’s. It was sold well to media buyers, and they’re behind it. The editorial is first-rate, and it has that CondÃ© Nast look, and you can’t look any better than that.’

“But twice that number, 33.6 percent, had yet to be convinced. They agreed with this statement: ‘I’ll have to wait on that one. It looks good, it reads well, but I have yet to sense any real demand for it. Did we, do we, need yet another business magazine?’

“And yet a larger share, 50.8 percent, see Portfolio as extraneous, agreeing with this statement: ‘I’m not impressed. It’s smart enough, as you would expect, but it doesn’t bring anything new to the category. I think it’s a big investment that’s going to tumble big time.'”

Read more here.

Chris Roush

Chris Roush was the dean of the School of Communications at Quinnipiac University in Hamden, Connecticut. He was previously Walter E. Hussman Sr. Distinguished Professor in business journalism at UNC-Chapel Hill. He is a former business journalist for Bloomberg News, Businessweek, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, The Tampa Tribune and the Sarasota Herald-Tribune. He is the author of the leading business reporting textbook "Show me the Money: Writing Business and Economics Stories for Mass Communication" and "Thinking Things Over," a biography of former Wall Street Journal editor Vermont Royster.