Conde Nast Portfolio: Why now?

Nadine Rubin of ABC News writes about the upcoming debut of new business magazine Conde Nast Portfolio and has a simple question: Why now?

Rubin wrote, “Over past two years, numerous glossy magazines have folded and even print’s staunchest defenders admit that advertising dollars are trending toward the Internet.

“‘I can count about 16 titles of notable size that have shut down during the last 18 months,’ says Bill Mickey, a senior editor at Folio, a trade publication that covers the magazine industry. ‘In March this year alone, Life, Child, InfoWorld and Premiere were closed, although in all of those cases the publishers have chosen to keep online live, something which is becoming a trend now as print revenue becomes subordinate to online.’

“High-profile closings from last year include FHM, ElleGirl, TeenPeople and Budget Living.

“Amid this print-publishing slump, the business titles suffered the biggest collective ad revenue losses of any single magazine category in 2006, according to an analysis in Folio of the 2006 PIB Revenue & Pages. Those most affected include such Portfolio competitors as Fast Company, Forbes and BusinessWeek.”

Read more here.