Sometimes, as I’ve gotten older, I wake up and see something that I notice seems suddenly different – when it’s been changing all along and I’ve just not noticed. I had a vivid example of that a few days ago.
We’ve subscribed to the New Yorker magazine for many years. In our house, however, the print copy isn’t something I usually see as it ends up on the table in our living room where I don’t read it. Instead, I read stories I find interesting in the online edition. So I hadn’t picked up a copy of the New Yorker in some time – until a few days ago when I noticed the latest edition on our kitchen table.
The first thing that I noticed was the cover price on the magazine: $9.99. Good grief, I thought, how long has the cover price of this magazine gotten up to $9.99/copy? Last I remembered it was around $3.00!
The second thing I noticed was just how thin the magazine was. I remember the New Yorker being a hefty magazine. Not as hefty as the big fashion mags, but not flimsy like this latest edition.
Then I noticed the third thing – the almost complete absence of advertising pages in the magazine. No wonder it was so thin! Where were all of the jewelry, watch, and other fashion ads? All I could find we a few full page ads for various non-profits – and those ads were most likely just donated by the publication.
I realized just how much the business model of the New Yorker has to have shifted – away from a heavy reliance of advertisers to much more reliance on subscriptions. Subscription pricing is a whole ‘nother can of worms which I’ll leave unopened for now.