NEW YORK (1010 WINS) — Entertainment Weekly, InStyle, and four other magazines owned by Barry Diller's media group will stop publishing print editions and only be available online, the company announced Wednesday. The move is expected to result in 200 layoffs.
Diller's IAC, which bought Meredith last year for $2.7 billion, will also stop publishing print editions of EatingWell, Health, Parents and People en Español, Dotdash Meredith CEO Neil Vogel said in a memo to staff. Their final physical editions will be printed in April.
"We have said from the beginning, buying Meredith was about buying brands, not magazines or websites," Vogel said. "It is not news to anyone that there has been a pronounced shift in readership and advertising from print to digital, and as a result, for a few important brands, print is no longer serving the brand’s core purpose."
Magazine and news publishers have struggled in recent years due to major advertising challenges posed by Google and Facebook. COVID-19 only accelerated this decline.
However, Vogel said the fully digital shift should not suggest their magazines are on their way out.
"Naysayers will interpret this as another nail in print’s coffin," Vogel added. "They couldn’t be more wrong."
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