There are so many ready to die-Jeff Jarvis on magazines

We have been led to believe that the magazine sector with its unique selling points may have been more immune to the rampaging changes going on in the newspaper world.

Well think again if Jeff Jarviss has anything to do with it.

Reflecting on the closure of portfolio magazine,he writes that

We’ll see magazines fold and it’s going to be a lot riskier to start new ones to replace them — riskier because, just as on TV and in movies and music, it’s harder to create a blockbuster and consumer magazines depend on the blockbuster economy. Magazines don’t make money until they hit magic numbers of circulation (which comes only after renewals reduce marketing costs) and advertising (which is sold at heavy premiums and that market is bound to suffer both in a recession and against unlimited competition from online).

and he continues

there are so many ready to die. Who needs newsmagazines? Business magazines are suffering the tragic irony of being at the same time more necessary and less supportable because of the financial crisis. Men’s magazines have been folding. Entertainment magazines are dicey. Trade magazines are dropping. And the list goes on and on.