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Latest casualty of the shift to digital.
Condé Nast is shutting down one of its newest fashion magazines, the 2-year-old quarterly Style.com.
At the time of its launch in the spring of 2012, it was considered a ground-breaking move because it stemmed from a website, reversing the conventional publishing model of building sites out of magazines.
A spokeswoman for Style.com confirmed the news that the magazine portion was suspending publication.
“Since the relaunch in early September, the site continues to exceed growth expectations,” she said. “To continue that momentum, we’ve made the decision to focus 100% of our efforts on our core digital business.”
Dirk Standen, the editor-in-chief of Style.com, was recently made to report to Vogue EIC Anna Wintour, according to a report in WWD on Thursday. And Style.com publisher Matt Rice, who once reported to Condé Nast president Bob Sauerberg, is now reporting to Vogue publisher Susan Plagemann, WWD said.
Standen and Rice could not be reached for comment.
Sources tell Media Ink that it was a decision by Wintour, who is artistic director for all Condé titles, to pull the plug on the magazine because she felt it replicated a lot of what the flagship was doing.
Meanwhile, Condé CEO Charles Townsend’s released his state-of-the-company year-end email and conceded that 2014 was “challenging.”
Figuring out exactly how challenging it was is hard to say, but it was clearly a down year. Sources say only two of the magazines reported ad-page gains: Condé Nast Traveler and Glamour.
Web traffic is apparently surging and digital is approaching 20 percent of overall revenue.
Townsend in his memo boasts, “With our digital audiences growing 46% over the same period last year, we outranked AOL to become the #1 digital lifestyle network among affluent millennial consumers — a milestone achievement.”
He said in October the company “reached 110 million people across its portfolio of assets. “
Still, with print struggling, sources estimate that the company is lagging last year’s revenue by tens of millions of dollars.
“As a private company, we do not disclose proprietary financial information and are pleased by the 28% increase in bookings in the 4th quarter and the strong momentum we have going into the new year,” a spokeswoman said.
Townsend is promising a brighter tomorrow.
“Just in the past few weeks, we have signed a number of upfront advertising commitments from major agencies and clients that are already stoking fourth quarter results, and are sure to fuel growth in 2015.”
Condé Nast is shutting down one of its newest fashion magazines, the 2-year-old quarterly Style.com.
At the time of its launch in the spring of 2012, it was considered a ground-breaking move because it stemmed from a website, reversing the conventional publishing model of building sites out of magazines.
A spokeswoman for Style.com confirmed the news that the magazine portion was suspending publication.
“Since the relaunch in early September, the site continues to exceed growth expectations,” she said. “To continue that momentum, we’ve made the decision to focus 100% of our efforts on our core digital business.”
Dirk Standen, the editor-in-chief of Style.com, was recently made to report to Vogue EIC Anna Wintour, according to a report in WWD on Thursday. And Style.com publisher Matt Rice, who once reported to Condé Nast president Bob Sauerberg, is now reporting to Vogue publisher Susan Plagemann, WWD said.
Standen and Rice could not be reached for comment.
Sources tell Media Ink that it was a decision by Wintour, who is artistic director for all Condé titles, to pull the plug on the magazine because she felt it replicated a lot of what the flagship was doing.
Meanwhile, Condé CEO Charles Townsend’s released his state-of-the-company year-end email and conceded that 2014 was “challenging.”
Figuring out exactly how challenging it was is hard to say, but it was clearly a down year. Sources say only two of the magazines reported ad-page gains: Condé Nast Traveler and Glamour.
Web traffic is apparently surging and digital is approaching 20 percent of overall revenue.
Townsend in his memo boasts, “With our digital audiences growing 46% over the same period last year, we outranked AOL to become the #1 digital lifestyle network among affluent millennial consumers — a milestone achievement.”
He said in October the company “reached 110 million people across its portfolio of assets. “
Still, with print struggling, sources estimate that the company is lagging last year’s revenue by tens of millions of dollars.
“As a private company, we do not disclose proprietary financial information and are pleased by the 28% increase in bookings in the 4th quarter and the strong momentum we have going into the new year,” a spokeswoman said.
Townsend is promising a brighter tomorrow.
“Just in the past few weeks, we have signed a number of upfront advertising commitments from major agencies and clients that are already stoking fourth quarter results, and are sure to fuel growth in 2015.”
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