InStyle, Entertainment Weekly and other magazines owned by Barry Diller’s media group will end their print editions and become digital-only brands, The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) reported Wednesday (Feb. 9).
The move will affect those publications as well as EatingWell, Health, Parents and People en Español, all of which were acquired from Meredith Corp. by Diller’s IAC/InteractiveCorp last year, according to the report.
Dotdash Meredith CEO Neil Vogel said in a memo the change will lead to about 200 job losses. All six magazines will publish their final print editions in April, the report stated.
“We have said from the beginning, buying Meredith was about buying brands, not magazines or websites,” Vogel said in the memo, per the report. “It is not news to anyone that there has been a pronounced shift in readership and advertising from print to digital, and as a result, for a few important brands, print is no longer serving the brand’s core purpose.”
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IAC bought Meredith for $2.7 billion, combing its stable of lifestyle publications with Dotdash’s largely digital portfolio, which includes The Spruce, Serious Eats and TripSavvy, according to the report. The company said at the time it was committed to the Meredith brands, print publications included.
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“Naysayers will interpret this as another nail in print’s coffin,” Vogel said in his memo, per the report. “They couldn’t be more wrong.”
Vogel said the company wants to invest in its 19 remaining print magazines — People, Better Homes & Gardens and Southern Living among them — “by enhancing paper quality and trimming sizes,” the report stated. Dotdash Meredith also plans to spend $80 million this year on content across all brands.
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