Teen Vogue’s print edition is the latest casualty in publisher Conde Nast’s reorganization, reports WWD. In addition, the company will impose a hiring freeze, eliminate about 80 jobs, or approximately 2.5 percent of Conde Nast staff, and reduce department budgets. According to WWD, magazines and departments with the worst performance can expect to see cuts of up to 20 percent.

Teen Vogue had already been reduced to just five issues per year, and in April 2017, Conde Nast appointed Elaine Welteroth editor-in-chief of the teen magazine. Welteroth was also put in charge of new consumer experiences and products for the brand. According to a press release, in the last year, TeenVogue.com’s audience had grown to more than 9.2 million unique visitors, nearly four times what it had been the previous year. Conde Nast also boasted that subscriptions for Teen Vogue had increased 535 percent year-over-year ‘across all digital sources.’

WWD reports that frequencies of other magazines are expected, including:

• GQ, Glamour, Allure and Architectural Digest will drop from 12 issues per year to 11.
• Bon Appetit will drop from 11 issues per year to 10.
• Conde Nast Traveler will drop from 10 issues per year to 8.

These latest changes are a continuation of a reorganization that started late last year with Conde Nast shutting down of the print edition of SELF magazine. That move was announced in December 2016, to be effective after SELF’s February 2017 issue. In addition, WWD reports that Conde Nast planned to cut about 100 jobs, and staff shake-ups moved editorial staff around. Conde Nast does not address the latest changes on its website, and Conde Nast did not respond to our request for comment. 

Time Inc. is going through similar growing pains. In September 2017, we reported that Time Inc.’s self-imposed strategic transformation included cutting about 300 jobs, the possible sale of its UK division and some of its magazines, including a majority stake in Essence, Sunset, Coasting Living and Golf.

Insider Take:

When I first heard the news that Teen Vogue was shutting down its print edition, I felt sadness and disappointment for an industry struggling to adapt to a changing media landscape. I grew with similar teen magazines, and as an adult, still read a wide of range of consumer and business magazines. How can publishers just stop printing magazines? Because people are changing how they read them. They are getting more of their news and entertainment online, and print operations are expensive. They are also difficult to adapt quickly. They require high overhead, regular redesigns and months and months of planning for a single issue.

Evolution for magazines is necessary for their survival, and some publishers are simply not moving or adapting fast enough. In the case of Teen Vogue though, this isn’t sad after all. Conde Nast’s statistics show that they are reaching younger readers online – and they are doing it well. They can serve those readers – and their bottom line – by cutting costs and going to readers where they are, rather than hoping a new generation will enjoy paging through a glossy magazine the way I did when I was young.

I’m still sad for the magazine industry as a whole, but I am excited for Teen Vogue. They are engaging a new generation who cares about politics and change as much as it does fashion and dating advice. They are getting it right, and hopefully, other publishers will follow their example.