Which makes more money? Digital advert or print?

I need to start bringing in advertisers for the Report. OMG the world is passing me by.

Perhaps, though, as Amanda Mull argued in an insightful Bloomberg article, published last Thursday, this year has not seen print die at the hands of digital as one might have anticipated. Instead, just like film cameras, bookstores, and vinyl records, print media is seeing something of a revival, with established magazines rebranding from ubiquitous digests to more specialized luxury “leisure products”.

While the golden age of print is well behind us — the same Bloomberg piece reported that even mega-publisher Condé Nast, is “no longer a magazine company,” per its CEO — an increasing number of legacy media outlets announced plans to revamp previously ditched physical print offerings in 2024, including NME, Nylon, Vice, Life, and The Onion. Moreover, some digital-born publications are now also giving print a chance, with Vox Media’s the Cut launching its first-ever Fall Fashion print issue this September.

However, keeping widespread attention isn’t the primary objective of print magazines anymore. As outlined by Mull, the success of enduring print publications (the New Yorker, Vogue, Architectural Digest, etc.) relies on their readers’ distinct interests, tastes, and intellects to sustain sales. Indeed, the rise in the number of small-scale indie publications going to print offers some proof that the value of a readership now lies in quality rather than quantity — a virtue that appeals to advertisers, who've grown conscious that the often more affluent, tuned-in readership of some print publications are harder to engage with online.

In fact, the print medium is now increasingly used as a marketing tool itself: according to the report, the CostCo Connection is one of America’s most successful magazines today, with a monthly circulation of more than 15 million.