The movement of emblematic magazines from the print platform to the digital format is another eloquent indicator that confirms the inevitable course facing paper media in the new information
ecosystem.
In fact, the most recent measurements of print and digital media readership in the world reinforce this trend towards transformation, due to the growing audience of users of digital platforms, especially the so-called social networks.
More than 80 percent of readers are informed, entertained or documented through digital media, a reality that has forced the written press to speed up its merger with these platforms.
The severe point of this inflection was recorded with the coronavirus pandemic, which made hundreds of well-known national or regional newspapers disappear or migrate to digital, due to
lack of support due to the loss of advertising revenue and subscribers.
The recent decision of the publishing group Dotdash Meredith to close the print publications of six of its most famous magazines, such as People in Spanish, to take them to digital format, is a reflection of this change.
The other relevant and decisive circumstance is the fact that today’s large audience, nourished by
digital users who consume content via smartphones, tablets or laptops, discard paper and have no interest in the journalism model of traditional newspapers.
With this disconnection, there were not many alternatives for the written media to bet on convergence with the digital to preserve and gain more audience and, of course, more income and ways of sustainability.
Now, the inevitable is seen and felt with more clarity and a sense of urgency. The balance has tipped and it is difficult to reverse it.
Director's Thoughts 