Wired's success doesn't translate into advertising

Stephanie Clifford writes for Monday’s New York Times about how Wired magazine’s success under editor Chris Anderson — it won three National Magazine Awards this year — hasn’t resulted in advertising revenue. It’s down 50 percent in advertising so far this year.

Clifford writes, “Mr. Anderson focuses just on the magazine, and does not oversee Wired’s Web site.

“‘It’s still a little weird, if you think about Chris Anderson’s prestige in the tech community and so on, he doesn’t run the Web site, that’s a little strange,’ said Evan Hansen, editor in chief of Wired.com.

“The arrangement also means that the institution’s primary loyalty is to the print magazine. When the publication had to eliminate staff late last year, it dismissed about a quarter of its Web employees and only four print employees.

“It also means that issues of Wired — the magazine about the digital future — often feel like an argument for print’s relevance. For example, May’s ‘mystery’ issue was filled with puzzles and clues for readers to solve. They appeared only in the print edition, Mr. Anderson pointed out.

“‘This is the annoying question I get all the time, which is, ‘Is print dead?’’ he said. ‘We need to do something that doesn’t exist online, and do it in a superior way. Otherwise we should just do it online.'”

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