Portfolio: Too late to the party?

Diego Vasquez of Media Life Magazine wonders whether the new Conde Nast Portfolio business magazine is launching a little too late.

Vasquez wrote, “Magazine launches are well down, long-established titles seem to be closing by the week, and overall ad pages for consumer magazines are about flat so far this year. There’s very little to indicate they will pick up.

“The risk is that Portfolio, in addition to being one of the biggest magazine launches, may be the last big launch. It could well stumble, too.

“Portfolio may be a new kind of business magazine, but how different can any one magazine be when business news pours off the internet? It has become increasingly a commodity at the very time that Portfolio seeks to make it a boutique item.

“Against this maturing market, Portfolio will find itself scrapping for an already fought-over and diminishing share of ad dollars and readers’ attention. And the established Big Three, Business Week, Forbes and Fortune, have been already been scrapping in this declining market for several years.”

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