Newsweek have announced the cessation of the printed Newsweek Magazine after 80 years.
The move will pave the way for a shift to an all-digital format in 2013.
The popular magazine is the latest casualty of the digital age, which sees consumers moving online in increasing numbers to get their news from websites and smartphone/tablet apps. Best known for its in-depth editorials and commentaries on current events, the weekly news magazine was finding it difficult to compete in an age where similar stories are available online within hours of any given event taking place.
Newsweek currently has the second-largest circulation among weekly magazines in the U.S. with 16 million readers globally, trailing behind the infamous Time Magazine. Despite Newsweek’s success, its finances have been waning for some time, and efforts to strengthen its financial standing in 2008 only accelerated its losses. The publication was sold by its former owner, The Washington Post Company, for a widely reported purchase price of just $1 and the assumption of its debt. It would later merge with popular opinion website The Daily Beast to form the Newsweek Daily Beast Company.
Newsweek has already built a strong online brand with a limited online presence. More than 370,000 people use its news app for mobile devices, and it has an even stronger social media following. The Daily Beast website, which started publishing Newsweek articles in 2010, has seen explosive growth over the past two years, and currently has a monthly audience of 15.2 million people.
The new digital Newsweek will be branded Newsweek Global. With a single, worldwide edition that requires a paid subscription, it will be available on a new Newsweek Global website and on mobile devices through an app.
Writing about the changes, Newsweek editor Tina Brown wrote: “We are transitioning Newsweek, not saying goodbye to it.”
The final issue of Newsweek will hit stands on December 31.
