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<h6>Quick Look Shortcut in Expose on Snow Leopard</h6>
<p><p>In Expose mode in Snow Leopard, hover your mouse pointer over a window and press the Space bar to view a larger Quick Look version of that window.</p></p>
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<p class="pagesubtitle">And you thought soap operas had a monopoly on bed-hopping... </p>
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<div class="featured_meta"><div class="meta_article">11 Aug 1997 | <a href="/article/4091?print_version=1">Print <span class="shift_up"><img src="/images/printer_icon.gif" alt="Printer-Friendly Version of This Article" border="0" width="9" height="10"></span></a></div></div>
<H2><a href="/article/4091">MacUser and Macworld Merge</a></H2>
<div id="article_blurb_2967"><p>As a quick Web search shows, many people have noted that "the enemy of my enemy is my friend." I've never been certain of the truth of that statement, but it would appear that the Macintosh community has witnessed an example of it in action.It's Merger Time -- Two weeks ago, rival publishing empires International Data Group (IDG) and Ziff-Davis announced that they have formed a new company called Mac Publications that will consolidate three major Macintosh print publications, Macworld, MacUser, and MacWEEK<span class="readmore_series"><a href="javascript:void(0)" onClick="return showhide_article('2967')">Show full article</a></span></p></div>
<div id="article_text_2967" style="display:none"><p class="showhide_all_series"><a href="javascript:void(0)" onClick="return showhide_article('2967')">Hide full article</a></p><P>As a quick Web search shows, many people have noted that "the enemy of my enemy is my friend." I've never been certain of the truth of that statement, but it would appear that the Macintosh community has witnessed an example of it in action.</P><P><STRONG>It's Merger Time</STRONG> -- Two weeks ago, rival publishing empires International Data Group (IDG) and Ziff-Davis announced that they have formed a new company called Mac Publications that will consolidate three major Macintosh print publications, Macworld, MacUser, and MacWEEK. That's stunning news, since the two organizations are known for hating one another.</P><P><<A HREF="http://www.macworld.com/">http://www.macworld.com/</A>><BR><<A HREF="http://www.macuser.com/">http://www.macuser.com/</A>><BR><<A HREF="http://www.macweek.com/">http://www.macweek.com/</A>></P><P>Even more astonishing, though, is the news that Macworld and MacUser will merge into a single monthly magazine to be called Macworld. The new Macworld will boast a circulation of 625,000 readers. MacWEEK will remain a weekly news magazine with a circulation of 100,000. The first issue of MacWEEK to be published by the new Mac Publications will appear in September, and the first joint issue of Macworld will be the November issue. That makes the October 1997 issue of MacUser the last one under the MacUser name.</P><P>Colin Crawford, president and CEO of Macworld, will head the new company and report to a board of directors comprised equally of representatives from IDG and Ziff. The staff of MacWEEK will reportedly move to Mac Publications more or less intact, whereas the staffs of Macworld and MacUser will either be offered jobs with the new Macworld in roughly equal proportions or offered positions at other IDG and Ziff magazines.</P><P><<A HREF="http://www.macworld.com/daily/daily.1494.html">http://www.macworld.com/daily/daily.1494.html</A>><BR><<A HREF="http://www.zdnet.com/zdnn/content/zdnn/0801/zdnn0008.html">http://www.zdnet.com/zdnn/content/zdnn/0801/ zdnn0008.html</A>></P><P>Although it wasn't stated in any of the information about the merger, I assume (and certainly hope) that subscriptions to MacUser will convert into subscriptions to the new Macworld.</P><P><STRONG>What It All Means</STRONG> -- There's no question that this merger is a result of the beating Apple and the Macintosh market have taken of late. All three magazines have had trouble maintaining advertising pages in the last few years, although, according to Adscope, MacUser's ad pages rose roughly 24 percent in 1996 and MacWEEK's rose 4 percent, while Macworld's fell 11 percent. In addition, subscriber growth rates have been low. When you combine those facts with the fierce competition between Macworld and MacUser, you come up with an untenable business situation. So IDG and Ziff managed to put aside their differences long enough to pull their Mac publications out of what could have turned into a death spiral.</P><P>I wonder if some of the woes experienced by Macworld and MacUser weren't related to the Internet. Although it's unlikely that Internet publications like TidBITS (which is nothing new, having been around since 1990) have lured many readers away from Macworld and MacUser, comments from international readers indicate that U.S. paper publications were too slow and expensive when the Internet could provide similar information. Overseas subscribers probably don't comprise a major part of the magazines' circulation, but there's no question that the Internet provides a Macintosh news and information fix that a few years ago could only be satisfied by Macworld or MacUser.</P><P>The merger will be seen as bad news for Apple, but that's nothing new, given the standard reporting of the slavering mass media. "In continued bad news for troubled computer maker Apple Computer, early morning showers in Cupertino are expected to turn to rain by afternoon." I don't see the merger as a good thing for the Macintosh, but it's better than one or more of the Mac magazines simply closing its doors.</P><P>One concern is the effect on freelance Macintosh writers. Without the editorial pages of MacUser, there are fewer spots for free-lancers to be published (we're always happy to consider submissions to TidBITS, but we can pay only in international fame). Those people who write about the Macintosh professionally are often the most knowledgeable, ardent, and persuasive Macintosh supporters; eliminating a major Mac publication forces these people to look for work elsewhere. Luckily, MacAddict, MacTech (whose circulation has been expanding of late), and NeTProfessional are still around, but they probably can't publish the pages that will disappear with the loss of MacUser, and they can't pay as well as a volume trade magazine.</P><P><<A HREF="http://www.macaddict.com/">http://www.macaddict.com/</A>><BR><<A HREF="http://www.mactech.com/">http://www.mactech.com/</A>><BR><<A HREF="http://www.netprolive.com/">http://www.netprolive.com/</A>></P><P>It will be interesting to see how Macworld and MacUser meld in that first November issue and those that follow. The magazines were similar in many ways, and the decisions of which columns to keep and which to discard in creating a new magazine will prove difficult. We can only hope the merged magazine will be healthier and more useful than two magazines it supplants.</P><!-- MacUser and Macworld Merge Adam C. Engst --></div>
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<div class="featured_meta"><div class="meta_article">18 Aug 1997 | <a href="/article/4097?print_version=1">Print <span class="shift_up"><img src="/images/printer_icon.gif" alt="Printer-Friendly Version of This Article" border="0" width="9" height="10"></span></a></div></div>
<div id="article_blurb_2973"><p>I was deluged by responses to my article about Macworld and MacUser merging last week (TidBITS-392). Frankly, I was surprised by the volume, since I hadn't made any controversial comments in the article<span class="readmore_series"><a href="javascript:void(0)" onClick="return showhide_article('2973')">Show full article</a></span></p></div>
<div id="article_text_2973" style="display:none"><p class="showhide_all_series"><a href="javascript:void(0)" onClick="return showhide_article('2973')">Hide full article</a></p><P>I was deluged by responses to my article about Macworld and MacUser merging last week (<A HREF="http://www.tidbits.com/tb-issues/TidBITS-392.html">TidBITS-392</A>). Frankly, I was surprised by the volume, since I hadn't made any controversial comments in the article. People obviously take their magazine subscriptions seriously.</P><P><STRONG>Subscriptions</STRONG> -- First off, a FAQ on MacUser's Web site makes it clear that the merged magazines will be honoring subscriptions appropriately. So, Macworld subscriptions will continue with the new Macworld. MacUser subscriptions will convert to Macworld subscriptions. And, if you subscribed to both Macworld and MacUser, your MacUser subscription will be tacked on the end of your Macworld subscription.</P><P><<A HREF="http://www.zdnet.com/macuser/mumwfaq.html">http://www.zdnet.com/macuser/mumwfaq.html</A>></P><P><STRONG>International Clarification</STRONG> -- Next, I should have noted that the international versions of MacUser and Macworld are unrelated to the U.S. magazines of the same name, although they sometimes republish U.S. content. The Macworld/MacUser merger in no way affects these international publications.</P><P><STRONG>The Role of the Internet</STRONG> -- Most of the messages commented on my musings about the role played by the Internet in the collective woes of the magazines. Numerous readers said that they'd stopped subscribing to Macworld or MacUser because they could now get information on the Internet (even from the Macworld and MacUser Web sites) in a more timely and less expensive fashion (the prices of U.S. magazine in other countries are often exorbitant). As expected, most of the people complaining about the timeliness and cost of the monthly magazines were from countries other than the U.S and Canada, but even people in North America noted that they preferred the Internet to paper. Of course, TidBITS readers are self-selected for being the sort of people to move from print to the Internet for their information, and none of the folks I've talked to at Macworld or MacUser believe the Internet played a major role in the loss of subscribers and ad revenue.</P><P>However, there is a temptation for U.S.-based folk to assume that overseas readers made up a relatively small percentage of the Macworld and MacUser circulation numbers. Those numbers are unknown, though we do know, for instance, that roughly 20 percent of the 47,000 people on the TidBITS mailing list are from other countries. Still, Andrew Nielsen <<A HREF="mailto:andrew@starfish.net.au">andrew@starfish.net.au</A>> warns:</P><P><BLOCKQUOTE>Care should be taken with generalisations relating to "foreign" consumption of U.S.-produced items, particularly when no actual data is used to back such suggestions. It took a long time for the powers-that-be at Apple to recognise that some 40 percent of Macs were being purchased off-shore. I also remember being irate at Apple at the first WWDC I went to where there were many registration queues for U.S. attendees, and only one for "world-wide" attendees - figure that one out.</BLOCKQUOTE></P><P><STRONG>What about MacAddict?</STRONG> A number of people wondered if MacAddict, which has been publishing for about a year, may have caused some of the woes of Macworld and MacUser. I spoke with Cheryl England of MacAddict, who joked that MacAddict was obviously the primary reason for the merger. On a more serious note, she said that MacAddict's circulation is up to about 160,000 now, and has been growing steadily since the magazine's last audited circulation of 127,000 six months ago. There's no question that MacAddict's optimism and brash upstart attitude provide an alternative to the more-established tones of Macworld and MacUser, and that was reflected in comments from some readers as well.</P><P>Cheryl noted that MacAddict may have affected Macworld and MacUser in other ways. First, newsstand sales for those magazines may have suffered when MacAddict joined them on the shelves. People browsing for a Macintosh magazine were suddenly offered three choices rather than two, which couldn't have helped Macworld and MacUser.</P><P>Second, Cheryl said that MacAddict's CD-ROM, which is integrated with every issue (as is the MacAddict Web site, since the magazine, CD-ROM, and Web site were designed simultaneously), might have lured some advertising away from the larger magazines; America Online, for instance, could buy space on the MacAddict CD-ROM rather than sponsoring an entire CD-ROM. CD-ROM advertising would seem very different from print or online advertising since it's primarily a method of distributing large files, such as the AOL client software or massive game demos.</P><P><STRONG>Ad Sales Rule</STRONG> -- This talk of circulation numbers may be deceptive since print magazines make most of their money on advertising. I've been told that subscription fees roughly pay for the cost of printing and distributing the magazine, whereas advertising pays for the staff and infrastructure, plus provides any profit. Considering the number of people it takes to create a large glossy magazine, especially one with a testing lab, the advertising money must roll in for a magazine to remain healthy. (Only a few paper-based magazines, including Consumer Reports and Cook's Illustrated, shun advertising in favor of a subscription-based business model, but they're exceptions to the rule.)</P><P>Circulation and advertising are related - the higher the circulation, the more you can charge for an ad. However, the number of companies who want to advertise in a Macintosh publication is finite, and from a pure revenue stance, Macworld and MacUser were beating each other up over the same set of advertisers. Even worse, major mergers remove advertisers - if both Fractal Design and MetaTools advertised in a magazine, when they merged into MetaCreations, there's a net loss of a big advertiser. Ceasing the battle for the remaining advertisers was probably the most significant reason for the merger.</P><P>However, there's another twist on the ad sales front that may be even more important. Roy Leban <<A HREF="mailto:royleban@akimbo.com">royleban@akimbo.com</A>> of Akimbo Systems notes:</P><P><BLOCKQUOTE>You didn't mention the role played in the merger by the mail-order catalogs. The decline in ad revenue for the magazines can be tracked to the rise of catalogs. Every square inch in a catalog, except for the table of contents, index, and address/postage area is a paid advertisement, and this includes even the front and back covers. If a company doesn't advertise in a catalog, that catalog won't carry its products. Period. If you stop advertising for even a month, the catalogs stop carrying your products.</BLOCKQUOTE></P><BLOCKQUOTE>This means that many companies choose to advertise in catalogs <EM>instead of</EM> magazines rather than <EM>in addition to</EM> magazines. After all, what good is a magazine ad if customers call the catalogs and can't buy the product? Only well-off companies can afford to advertise everywhere.</BLOCKQUOTE><BLOCKQUOTE>In the Macintosh world, catalog sales make up a much higher percentage of the market than in the Windows world, and I think that has a lot to do with why the catalogs have had a greater negative impact on Macworld and MacUser's ad revenues.</BLOCKQUOTE><BLOCKQUOTE>Oddly enough, this information isn't common knowledge. Perhaps all the loyal fans who have come out to support Apple lately will spend some energy supporting the small Macintosh companies who so desperately need their support.</BLOCKQUOTE></P><!-- Magazine Merger Redux Adam C. Engst --></div>
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<div class="featured_meta"><div class="meta_article">25 Aug 1997 | <a href="/article/4102?print_version=1">Print <span class="shift_up"><img src="/images/printer_icon.gif" alt="Printer-Friendly Version of This Article" border="0" width="9" height="10"></span></a></div></div>
<H2><a href="/article/4102">Magazine Mergers, Media, and Advertising, Continued...</a></H2>
<div id="article_blurb_2977"><p>Talk about a topic that won't die. People obviously feel strongly about issues surrounding the Macintosh media and how it affects our world. We thought we'd share the following notes before letting the topic drop for the near future.Graeme Challis passed on the word that despite our comment about how the Macworld/MacUser merger affected only the U.S<span class="readmore_series"><a href="javascript:void(0)" onClick="return showhide_article('2977')">Show full article</a></span></p></div>
<div id="article_text_2977" style="display:none"><p class="showhide_all_series"><a href="javascript:void(0)" onClick="return showhide_article('2977')">Hide full article</a></p><P>Talk about a topic that won't die. People obviously feel strongly about issues surrounding the Macintosh media and how it affects our world. We thought we'd share the following notes before letting the topic drop for the near future.</P><P><STRONG>Graeme Challis</STRONG> <<A HREF="mailto:g.challis@bendigo.latrobe.edu.au">g.challis@bendigo.latrobe.edu.au</A>> passed on the word that despite our comment about how the Macworld/MacUser merger affected only the U.S. publications, Australian Macworld and Australian MacUser have independently decided to follow suit. I'm not entirely surprised, since the international versions of Macworld and MacUser tend to have smaller circulations and probably face similar issues regarding ad revenue. It's certainly possible that other mergers will take place, although we haven't heard definitive word of any at this time.</P><STRONG>Adrian</STRONG> <<A HREF="mailto:kat12@dial.pipex.com">kat12@dial.pipex.com</A>> writes:<BR><P><BLOCKQUOTE>I'm from the U.K., and I buy (or, perhaps, used to buy) MacUser U.S., and a selection of U.K. magazines. I buy the U.S. magazine because I cannot find the sheer breadth of information here. But I buy U.K. magazines because they include fantastic CD-ROMs. Every time a new piece of software appears on the Internet, my main U.K. Mac magazine (MacFormat) includes it on a cover-mounted CD-ROM. I have a library of CD-ROMs from the magazine covering the last two years. When I see a piece of software I want, I do a search and hopefully copy it from a CD rather than spend 15 minutes on the Internet downloading it. [Something that's not always as easily done in countries outside of North America. -Adam] I have about half a terabyte of data waiting for me thanks to MacFormat. Perhaps the new Macworld could try something along these lines.</BLOCKQUOTE></P><P><<A HREF="http://www.futurenet.com/macweb/">http://www.futurenet.com/macweb/</A>></P><P><STRONG>MacHome Journal</STRONG> may not be as well known as some of the magazines aimed more at professionals, but several people have commented that it offers a level of Macintosh news and information that's better targeted toward novice Macintosh users than most other magazines.</P><P><<A HREF="http://www.machome.com/">http://www.machome.com/</A>></P><P><STRONG>Neil Ticktin</STRONG> <<A HREF="mailto:publisher@mactech.com">publisher@mactech.com</A>> of MacTech Magazine writes that my comment about most magazines making most of their revenues on advertising may be true for many publications, but there are also significant exceptions.</P><P><BLOCKQUOTE>Your comment is quite accurate for many publications out there, but you stated it in such a uniform way that it seems like you are saying it's true for nearly all publications (except the examples you cited). Because of this, I've already received feedback from readers asking "Why are your subscription prices high when you make your real money from advertisers?" MacTech, for instance, earns revenue from three main sources: subscriptions, advertising, and the CD. Newsstand sales are not really worth doing, and advertising isn't anywhere near the main source of revenue.</BLOCKQUOTE></P><P><STRONG>Ads and Catalogs</STRONG> -- Roy Leban's comments about the catalogs refusing to carry products for which ads weren't purchased generated a few dissenting notes from people who had successfully ordered products that weren't featured in a catalog. And, some catalog vendors, such as Developer Depot, will carry any appropriate products (developer tools, in Developer Depot's case) regardless of advertising. In addition, Steve Chambers <<A HREF="mailto:schamber@prius.jnj.com">schamber@prius.jnj.com</A>> wrote:</P><P><BLOCKQUOTE>I can't speak for other catalog companies, but I know from intimate experience (four and a half years in the technical support department) that MacWarehouse carries an enormous amount of product that never reaches the catalog. However, what Roy may be referring to is the marketing department's refusal to carry some products because of the perceived market for those products. In other words, if the marketing rep for part of the catalog does not feel a product will benefit the bottom line, they won't carry that product without an ad buy. And believe me, those ads are expensive!</BLOCKQUOTE></P><P><BLOCKQUOTE>It's the same problem other manufacturers face when breaking into markets - competition for shelf space. It matters little whether or not that shelf is in a small strip mall storefront or a huge warehouse. The fact remains that the people who own the shelf space have publishers over a barrel. Even if retail stores owned a larger share of the market (as in the PC business) Roy would have the same problem - no shelf space, making it difficult for a small company to get ahead in this world.</BLOCKQUOTE></P><P>Roy Leban <<A HREF="mailto:royleban@akimbo.com">royleban@akimbo.com</A>> replies:</P><P><BLOCKQUOTE>I can't speak for how the catalog companies treat other companies, but I know no catalog company was willing to carry our products without us first buying ads. Even with an ad purchase, the catalog companies would not make any commitment to stock our product. If we bought an ad, they wanted payment up front. If they bought product, they wanted to pay in 60 or 90 days, with a guarantee that they could return everything they bought for full credit at any time.</BLOCKQUOTE></P><P><BLOCKQUOTE>I've also spoken with people at other companies about this issue. The president of one company told me they would advertise each of their products for one month on a rotating basis so that they always had an ad. That way, the catalog company would keep their products in stock. If they dropped the ad for a month, they would get all the products sent back.</BLOCKQUOTE></P><P><BLOCKQUOTE>Of course, all this is a side issue to the fact that the money siphoned off by the catalogs has hurt magazines tremendously, and that's a loss for consumers. What we get is two or three catalogs mailed to each of us every month instead of better magazines. In my view, that's not a good trade.</BLOCKQUOTE></P><!-- Magazine Mergers, Media, and Advertising, Continued... Adam C. Engst --></div>
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<div class="featured_meta"><div class="meta_article">18 May 1998 | <a href="/article/4890?print_version=1">Print <span class="shift_up"><img src="/images/printer_icon.gif" alt="Printer-Friendly Version of This Article" border="0" width="9" height="10"></span></a></div></div>
<div id="article_blurb_3569"><p>Farewell MacWEEK, Welcome e/media Weekly -- Mac Publishing announced that as of the 24-Aug-98 issue, MacWEEK will change its name to e/media Weekly (or Emedia Weekly, or EMedia Weekly, depending on the source you read)<span class="readmore_series"><a href="javascript:void(0)" onClick="return showhide_article('3569')">Show full article</a></span></p></div>
<div id="article_text_3569" style="display:none"><p class="showhide_all_series"><a href="javascript:void(0)" onClick="return showhide_article('3569')">Hide full article</a></p><P><STRONG>Farewell MacWEEK, Welcome e/media Weekly</STRONG> -- Mac Publishing announced that as of the 24-Aug-98 issue, MacWEEK will change its name to e/media Weekly (or Emedia Weekly, or EMedia Weekly, depending on the source you read). The 11-year-old magazine's new tag line will be "The Newsweekly for Digital Media Managers;" the title change is the final step in a shift to focus on digital media professionals, regardless of platform. e/media Weekly will keep its controlled circulation at 85,000 readers, 70 percent of whom reportedly work in multi-platform environments. According to a report from Matthew Rothenberg, director of online content for Mac Publishing, MacWEEK Online will remain in operation. [ACE]</P><P><<A HREF="http://biz.yahoo.com/bw/980514/macweek_ma_1.html">http://biz.yahoo.com/bw/980514/macweek_ma_ 1.html</A>><BR><<A HREF="http://www.macweek.com/">http://www.macweek.com/</A>><BR><<A HREF="http://www.zdnet.com/macweek/mw_1219/nw_macweek.html">http://www.zdnet.com/macweek/mw_1219/nw_ macweek.html</A>></P><!-- Farewell MacWEEK, Welcome e/media Weekly Adam C. Engst --></div>
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<div class="featured_meta"><div class="meta_article">08 Feb 1999 | <a href="/article/5272?print_version=1">Print <span class="shift_up"><img src="/images/printer_icon.gif" alt="Printer-Friendly Version of This Article" border="0" width="9" height="10"></span></a></div></div>
<H2><a href="/article/5272">eMediaweekly Folds After Five Months</a></H2>
<div id="article_blurb_3949"><p>Late last week, Mac Publishing, the parent company of Macworld, MacWEEK.com, and eMediaweekly, announced that it has ceased publication of eMediaweekly<span class="readmore_series"><a href="javascript:void(0)" onClick="return showhide_article('3949')">Show full article</a></span></p></div>
<div id="article_text_3949" style="display:none"><p class="showhide_all_series"><a href="javascript:void(0)" onClick="return showhide_article('3949')">Hide full article</a></p><P>Late last week, Mac Publishing, the parent company of Macworld, MacWEEK.com, and eMediaweekly, announced that it has ceased publication of eMediaweekly. It wasn't around for long: Mac Publishing first announced that it would be transmogrifying MacWEEK into the cross-platform eMediaweekly back in May of 1998, near the end of the recent Apple death spiral.</P><P><<A HREF="http://db.tidbits.com/article/04890">http://db.tidbits.com/article/04890</A>></P><P><STRONG>Market Timing</STRONG> -- In retrospect, eMediaweekly's timing was unfortunate. The plans to move from MacWEEK to a less Macintosh-specific publication had been in the works long before the May announcement, and although Steve Jobs had preemptively unveiled the iMac less than two weeks before, no one could have predicted that Apple would reverse its ailing fortunes so quickly. By the time eMediaweekly's first issue appeared at the end of August, the iMac had shipped to great fanfare and impressive sales figures, and the Macintosh industry was on the way back up. What started as a seemingly clever way to ease out of the failing Macintosh market suddenly looked like a soldier surrendering just as the tide of battle changed.</P><P>It's easy to think that the MacWEEK folks weren't being loyal to the Macintosh cause. But as I've tried to say in the past, there's a big difference between the individuals who make up a company and the company as an entity. I know that many of the people on the MacWEEK staff, though as shaken as the rest of us by Apple's problems, still believed in the Macintosh. On a business level, though, Mac Publishing simply couldn't afford to lose money on MacWEEK for long. The move to eMediaweekly was a business decision, and though it looked bad for Apple to have MacWEEK go away, replacing it with eMediaweekly was a softer blow. Ironically, even if Mac Publishing had doggedly continued publishing MacWEEK at a loss, it's entirely possible that the magazine would still have had to cease publication. Having that happen <EM>now</EM> would have been far more damaging to Apple than the loss of eMediaweekly.</P><P><STRONG>Who Was Reading?</STRONG> eMediaweekly targeted digital media professionals using the Mac, Windows, and Unix, a somewhat vague audience consisting mainly of previous MacWEEK readers. Although eMediaweekly sported a circulation of 85,000 and obviously met the needs of some people (judging from testimonials in the magazine), our informal surveys found readers somewhat confused about the focus and generally uninterested in the Windows and Unix content. Granted, we're deep in the Macintosh industry, but so were many of eMediaweekly's readers who may have found the content less compelling than when the masthead read MacWEEK.</P><P><STRONG>Show Me the Money</STRONG> -- Although the magazine's content was cross-platform, eMediaweekly's advertising-based revenue stream was not. I recently spent a few minutes counting the advertisements in eMediaweekly's 11-Jan-99 issue. I created three categories: Macintosh-specific, platform-independent, and Windows-specific (I would have included Unix ads, but there weren't any.)</P><P>There were <EM>no</EM> ads aimed purely at Windows users, which implied eMediaweekly hadn't managed to attract advertising dollars from the Windows industry. For a controlled circulation magazine aimed at a cross-platform audience, that failure alone may have proved fatal.</P><P>Using a loose interpretation of what was a platform-independent ad (printers, memory, data recovery services, etc.), I counted 12 Macintosh ads and 27 platform-independent ads. With a tighter interpretation of "platform-independent" based on the wording and focus of the ad, I counted 23 Macintosh ads and only 16 truly platform-independent ads. Although I haven't gone back to an old issue of MacWEEK, I'd be willing to bet that ratio didn't change much from MacWEEK to eMediaweekly.</P><P><STRONG>The Online Upshot</STRONG> -- The question that remains is what will happen to MacWEEK.com, the heavily trafficked online arm of MacWEEK that survived the print publication's transition to eMediaweekly. Over the last few months, MacWEEK.com has relied less on content from eMediaweekly, and has started to create partnerships with other sources of Macintosh content, TidBITS included.</P><P>MacWEEK.com has eked out profits online, which (as we know from long experience with TidBITS) isn't easy and can be done only with a small dedicated staff, tight control of costs, and a focused online approach. It's possible that the elimination of the unprofitable eMediaweekly will free up additional staff or operating capital for MacWEEK.com, although it's equally possible that Mac Publishing will decide to concentrate solely on its main publication, Macworld.</P><P><STRONG>Bon Voyage</STRONG> -- In the end, the people who lose the most are our friends and colleagues at eMediaweekly, many of whom were laid off. With a limited number of journalism jobs in the Macintosh industry, many will have to search further afield. When MacUser and Macworld merged, we were impressed at the jobs many of those writers and editors managed to find, and we wish the eMediaweekly staff the best of luck as well.</P><!-- eMediaweekly Folds After Five Months Adam C. Engst --></div>
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<div class="featured_meta"><div class="meta_article">07 Jun 1999 | <a href="/article/5425?print_version=1">Print <span class="shift_up"><img src="/images/printer_icon.gif" alt="Printer-Friendly Version of This Article" border="0" width="9" height="10"></span></a></div></div>
<div id="article_blurb_4102"><p>Mac Publishing Buys MacCentral -- Mac Publishing, the folks who publish the online and print editions of Macworld and the online MacWEEK.com, have announced their acquisition of MacCentral, a Nova Scotia-based Macintosh news and information service<span class="readmore_series"><a href="javascript:void(0)" onClick="return showhide_article('4102')">Show full article</a></span></p></div>
<div id="article_text_4102" style="display:none"><p class="showhide_all_series"><a href="javascript:void(0)" onClick="return showhide_article('4102')">Hide full article</a></p><P><STRONG>Mac Publishing Buys MacCentral</STRONG> -- Mac Publishing, the folks who publish the online and print editions of Macworld and the online MacWEEK.com, have announced their acquisition of MacCentral, a Nova Scotia-based Macintosh news and information service. The terms of the agreement were not disclosed. Mac Publishing's specific goals for MacCentral aren't clear, but it's likely Mac Publishing hopes to utilize MacCentral's daily content to beef up the relatively small amount of material available each day from MacWEEK.com. [GD]</P><P><<A HREF="http://www.macworld.com/">http://www.macworld.com/</A>><BR><<A HREF="http://www.macweek.com/">http://www.macweek.com/</A>><BR><<A HREF="http://macweek.zdnet.com/1999/05/30/maccentral.html">http://macweek.zdnet.com/1999/05/30/ maccentral.html</A>><BR><<A HREF="http://www.maccentral.com/">http://www.maccentral.com/</A>></P><!-- Mac Publishing Buys MacCentral Geoff Duncan --></div>
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<div class="featured_meta"><div class="meta_article">05 Mar 2001 | <a href="/article/6325?print_version=1">Print <span class="shift_up"><img src="/images/printer_icon.gif" alt="Printer-Friendly Version of This Article" border="0" width="9" height="10"></span></a></div></div>
<H2><a href="/article/6325">MacWEEK to Roll into MacCentral</a></H2>
<div id="article_blurb_4963"><p>MacWEEK to Roll into MacCentral -- After eleven years in print and three more years online after the print transformation into eMediaweekly (which itself lasted only five months), MacWEEK is finally no more<span class="readmore_series"><a href="javascript:void(0)" onClick="return showhide_article('4963')">Show full article</a></span></p></div>
<div id="article_text_4963" style="display:none"><p class="showhide_all_series"><a href="javascript:void(0)" onClick="return showhide_article('4963')">Hide full article</a></p><P><STRONG>MacWEEK to Roll into MacCentral</STRONG> -- After eleven years in print and three more years online after the print transformation into eMediaweekly (which itself lasted only five months), MacWEEK is finally no more. As of today, Mac Publishing, Ltd. will integrate MacWEEK's content into the MacCentral site. When Mac Publishing acquired MacCentral, MacWEEK's focus on industry news analysis had trouble finding the right fit between MacCentral's emphasis on frequently updated news and Macworld's editorials, features, and reviews. Though the online MacWEEK has long lacked the strong community presence of the old print version, we're still sorry to see it go, and we wish the best to the seven employees laid off in the reorganization of Mac Publishing's online operations. MacWEEK will always have a place in our memories - the white lies seemingly everyone used on the free subscription forms, the Mac the Knife columns from when rumors felt important, and the impact MacWEEK editor Robert Hess's death had on the entire industry. [ACE]</P><P><<A HREF="http://macweek.zdnet.com/2001/02/25/0203requiem.html">http://macweek.zdnet.com/2001/02/25/ 0203requiem.html</A>><BR><<A HREF="http://macweek.zdnet.com/2001/02/25/macweek.html">http://macweek.zdnet.com/2001/02/25/ macweek.html</A>><BR><<A HREF="http://db.tidbits.com/article/04890">http://db.tidbits.com/article/04890</A>><BR><<A HREF="http://db.tidbits.com/article/05272">http://db.tidbits.com/article/05272</A>><BR><<A HREF="http://db.tidbits.com/article/05425">http://db.tidbits.com/article/05425</A>><BR><<A HREF="http://db.tidbits.com/article/01175">http://db.tidbits.com/article/01175</A>></P><!-- MacWEEK to Roll into MacCentral Adam C. Engst --></div>
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<div class="featured_meta"><div class="meta_article">15 Oct 2001 | <a href="/article/6592?print_version=1">Print <span class="shift_up"><img src="/images/printer_icon.gif" alt="Printer-Friendly Version of This Article" border="0" width="9" height="10"></span></a></div></div>
<H2><a href="/article/6592">Macworld Returns to IDG</a></H2>
<div id="article_blurb_5208"><p>Macworld Returns to IDG -- Four years ago, during one of the dips in the Macintosh industry, the fierce competition for advertising between the two leading Macintosh magazines, Macworld and MacUser, was halted by International Data Group (IDG) and Ziff Davis merging the two (along with Ziff Davis's MacWEEK) into a joint venture called Mac Publishing<span class="readmore_series"><a href="javascript:void(0)" onClick="return showhide_article('5208')">Show full article</a></span></p></div>
<div id="article_text_5208" style="display:none"><p class="showhide_all_series"><a href="javascript:void(0)" onClick="return showhide_article('5208')">Hide full article</a></p><P><STRONG>Macworld Returns to IDG</STRONG> -- Four years ago, during one of the dips in the Macintosh industry, the fierce competition for advertising between the two leading Macintosh magazines, Macworld and MacUser, was halted by International Data Group (IDG) and Ziff Davis merging the two (along with Ziff Davis's MacWEEK) into a joint venture called Mac Publishing. MacUser was folded into Macworld immediately after the merger, and MacWEEK struggled to find its place as a weekly print magazine, as eMediaweekly, and as the daily news Web arm for Mac Publishing before finally being merged into the MacCentral news site that Mac Publishing acquired in 1999. Now IDG has bought out Ziff Davis's half of the joint venture, and Mac Publishing has become a wholly owned subsidiary of IDG. At IDG, the U.S. Macworld rejoins both the Macworld Conference & Expo and the other ten international versions of Macworld. The move is a good one for Mac Publishing and the Macintosh industry, since the joint venture made for a bizarre corporate structure confused further by the competition between IDG and Ziff Davis. [ACE]</P><P><<A HREF="http://maccentral.macworld.com/news/0110/10.macworld.php">http://maccentral.macworld.com/news/0110/ 10.macworld.php</A>><BR><<A HREF="http://db.tidbits.com/series/1208">http://db.tidbits.com/series/1208</A>></P><!-- Macworld Returns to IDG Adam C. Engst --></div>
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