The Not-So-Glossy Future of Magazines<br />A new iteration of a streaming video network that the company introduced last year, PeopleTV will feature<br />pop culture programming in conjunction with Entertainment Weekly, another Time Inc. title.<br />Kurt Andersen, a former editor of New York and, with Mr. Carter, a founder of Spy magazine, said<br />that print magazines were still breathing, but that the recent upheaval was a sign that the denouement might not be far off.<br />It could have been a scene from the Jazz Age heyday of the Manhattan magazine set — or even the 1990s, when glossy monthlies still soaked up millions of dollars in advertising revenue,<br />and editors in chauffeured town cars told the nation what to wear, what to watch and who to read.<br />“Sentimentality is probably the biggest enemy for the magazine business,” David Carey, the president of Hearst Magazines, said in an interview.<br />Still, Meredith reported a slight drop in revenue for its magazine business in its most recent fiscal year, which ended in June.<br />But as the executive leading Hearst’s magazine business into an uncertain future, Mr. Carey said<br />that he was focused on identifying new ways to increase revenue and trim expenses.<br />Although the print business still accounts for roughly two-thirds of Time Inc.’s $3 billion<br />in annual revenue, the company is shifting resources to video and television.<br />“The 1920s to the 2020s was kind of the century of the magazine,” he said, noting<br />that The New Yorker and Time were founded in the decade before the Great Depression.
