SmartMoney redesigns for digital age

Andrew Vanacore, an Associated Press business writer, reports on the redesigned SmartMoney magazine, which will occur when its February issue comes out on Tuesday.

Vanacore writes, “Among the coming changes, SmartMoney will be focusing on fewer features and expanding the ones that it runs.

“Readers are still interested in leaning back for a stretch to enjoy good writing and reporting, says SmartMoney editor Jonathan Dahl. ‘We’re not going to pretend that we’re a daily.’

“SmartMoney President Andrew Seibert backs that up with a stat: According to internal research, readers on average spent 69 minutes with the magazine in 2009, a 13 percent jump from 61 minutes in 2005.

“Another positive: Although many magazines have lost circulation as readers shift to the Web, the overall number of people reading SmartMoney has held steady over the past five years at roughly 815,000, according to Audit Bureau of Circulations figures. The magazine, however, has had to cut the average subscription price to maintain that — to $12 per year in 2010 from $16.49 in 2005.”

Read more here.