One of American’s Greatest Weekly Magazines Isn’t Weekly Any More

One of America’s largest and most influential weekly magazines, founded three decades ago, isn’t weekly anymore. It is another major blow to traditional publishing.

Entertainment Weekly, founded in 1990, was one of the stable of weeklies owned by the world’s largest publisher–Time, Inc. The others included Time, People, and Sports Illustrated. Rival publisher Meredith Corporation bought the flagging Time, Inc. in January 2018. Over the intervening period, Meredith sold off Time and Sports Illustrated. People, Time, Inc.’s most profitable magazine, is the only publication Meredith has not changed.

Meredith announced that the July 5th issue of Entertainment Weekly will be its last. The magazine will then become a monthly. Emphasis will put on the digital part of the business–EW.com. More effort will also be put into related media which have become popular with consumers. That includes podcasts and video.

PEOPLE Deputy Editor JD Heyman will take over as Editor-in-Chief.  People continues to be a profit machine for Meredith as well as one of the most widely read magazines in the country.

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The announcement follows the decision a month ago by Meredith to shut down Money magazine, another Time, Inc. property. It was founded in 1972.

Entertainment Weekly and Money become one of a very long list of famous magazines which have been shuttered, downsized, or sold in the last year. Magazine publisher Conde Nast recently sold Golf Digest and Brides.  Esquire magazine moved from monthly to six times a year. Field & Stream moved from monthly to six times a year as well.  New York Magazine has moved from weekly to biweekly. Seventeen magazine was shuttered altogether. The list goes on much longer.

Neither magazines or newspapers have been able to solve the problem of rising print, paper, and postage costs, sharp drop-offs in print dollars, and pressure on digital advertising. Google and Facebook, known in advertising circles as the “duopoly” suck up as much as 75% of all digital ad dollars spent in the U.S. This means that publishers which need digital dollars to help support their print products are under relentless financial pressure. Print products, which can no longer support themselves financially will almost certainly continue to close or drop the number of times they are published over the next several years.

The Entertainment Weekly decision is sad, but not unique. It is another sign the industry is under siege.

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