Condé Nast Still Believes Its Future Lies In Print

Um, Townsend seems to believe the publishing company’s future, like its past, lies in print media — or at least, in the magazine format they’ve established across their various properties. Townsend says digital grew at only half the rate they expected in 2012, and that the company’s revenue stream still relies largely on print circulation. Tablet users, however, now account for about 10% of Condé’s readership, and the company is able to seamlessly translate its magazine-style content to the new technology.

“Our print business, even in the worst moment, continues to grow and the margins are sharper and the gross profit margins are mouthwatering. When this economy recovers, the print business is going to be on fire.”

It’s not like I can tell anyone how to do their job — and especially not Townsend, who uses so much jargon and fluffy marketing-speak, I’d be impressed if even he knew what he was saying half the time.

But entertain me for second: what if your print business does well because 1) you know how to put out a great print product and 2) you continue to devote lots of resources to those departments? What if your digital business is suffering not because there’s no future in digital, but because you aren’t dedicating the attention, manpower, and resources required to succeed in online media? And what if, in the future — “when the economy recovers” — it’s not the print business that is going to be “on fire” but the digital business? Won’t that make your company increasingly less relevant, no matter how well it excels at putting out a traditional magazine and translating the layout to an iPad? 

I bet there’s a German word for the feeling you get when you’re watching a streaming video about our exciting print magazine future:

Image via WENN

[via WWD]

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