As someone who studied print journalism in college, I watched EGM’s demise with particular interest. I certainly wasn’t surprised by what transpired, but was still disappointed that the longtime publication went under.

Newspapers and magazines rely heavily upon advertising dollars for their revenue. Publications that can’t sell ad space won’t stay afloat for very long. With an increasing number of organizations advertising online, more and more traditional print outlets are struggling to keep profits up.

Future Publishing, which produces Nintendo Power, Edge and Official Xbox Magazine, recently touted the growing popularity of its UK publications. However, it seems that not everything is sunshine and rainbows for the company. According to a recent Joystiq report, the company’s American magazines aren’t mirroring that success.

According to Joystiq contributing editor Jem Alexander:

Its magazines in the region (Nintendo Power and the official Microsoft and Sony mags) have seen the company’s revenue fall by 2% over the last three months, calling into question how sustainable that particular medium is in the current economic climate. Print advertising revenues fell by 4% during the same period, while online advertising revenue increased by 25%.

Future also produces popular sites like CVG, Edge Online and GamesRadar. Its game-related content only makes up part of the company’s portfolio. For instance, Future is also responsible for Guitar World, Revolver, Computer Arts and Pro Cycling.

I always laugh when I hear someone suggest that the print medium is dying. It is a pretty ridiculous claim if you think about it. The main problem is that many people define print journalism as newspapers and magazines. By that restricted definition, print journalism is indeed on the decline. However, I would argue that print journalism is the act of reporting the day’s events through written text. Therefore, in my opinion, the industry is simply moving online.

Many publications, including daily newspapers and game magazines, maintain web sites in addition to their physical products. Game Informer and GamePro have sites, as does Edge. Before EGM’s death, its staff often produced content for 1UP.com.

The Internet is becoming an increasingly popular way to distribute and consume news; many companies are embracing this development by transferring their magazine content to the World Wide Web. It is all part of the media’s convergence online. IGN offers its users previews, reviews and news updates in written and video formats. The site also produces audio podcasts that report the latest industry news. We here at Sarcastic Gamer offer hourly content in all three formats as well, though many debate whether or not bloggers are journalists. That discussion is best saved for another day, but I will say that blogs will become increasingly popular as more people demand constant content delivered in small chunks.

Newspaper outlets generally release one edition per day. A television station can only run so many news casts in a day. Some radio stations produce two news segments every hour, but many of the stories are simply re-written so that they appear to be new. However, the Internet, thanks to the introduction of Wi-Fi-enabled devices like Apple’s iPhone, is accessible almost 24 hours a day from nearly anywhere. As a result, the World Wide Web has changed the way people consume news.

Print journalism is not dying. It is simply evolving.

Source: Joystiq

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