Glamour Magazine Ends Regular Print Edition with January 2019 Issue
Posted on January 20, 2019
Glamour magazine ends its regular print edition with the January 2019 issue. Actress Amber Heard is features on the cover. She stars as Hera in the recent Aquaman blockbuster movie. The Conde Nast magazine will be online only from this point on. They will reserve print for occasional special issues.
Glamour has been a regular print magazine since 1939. The shift from print to digital has been a common one for major magazines over the past ten years. Abandoning print costs can open up revenues for new online projects, such as a video series. This can help them compete with beauty bloggers and upstart beauty video channels. However, there are risks such as the loss of the print readership and the loss of brand exposure provided from newsstands.
Variety reports that Glamour's website, glamour.com, has an audience of 20 million online compared to its 2 million print subscribers.
Glamour editor-in-chief Samantha Barry wrote in a memo to employees, "We're doubling down on digital — investing in the storytelling, service, and fantastic photo shoots we’ve always been known for, bringing it to the platforms our readers frequent most. We'll be expanding video and social storytelling, with new and ambitious series and projects."
The UK version of Glamour went digital first last year. BBC News reports that it will continue to publish content in print, including a collectible glossy version twice a year.