Print Is Not Dead. The traditional daily newspaper suffers from a fatal flaw:
The “News” is “Old”.
By the time ink dries, the story has been around the world twice.
That’s the fatal flaw of traditional print. It sells news. But news moves at the speed of a tweet now. Mass-market papers can’t win that race.
Nobody expects them to anymore. When Newsday in Trinidad closed, it wasn’t a local failure. It was a data point. The old model is done even as we see some of the stalwarts holding on. HOwever there is a shift taking place that is bigger than print!
Print and in particular magzines are making a comback or sort of a resurgence. The generation that grew up on screens is the one buying printed zines. Content is Analog again.
This isn’t just nostalgia. This is a response to drowning in digital slop. When everything is infinite and algorithmic, a finite physical object feels radical and fresh. An avoidance of the algorithm feels deliberate.
Printed media ends. Your feed never does. A magazine is a beautiful algorithm free 3d IRL object and Gen Z/Gen Aplpha are craving truth, something beyond the algorithm.
Generation Lion Magazine
How is print winning Today?
- By Going Niche. Food, architecture, local history. Find your thousand true readers.
- Go multi-platform. Your brand drives the relationship, let the mission live in podcasts, newsletters, long-form digital.
- Read the data. Older, high-income readers still want print. Don’t kill it out of ego. Slow down. The thing print does best is get it right. That’s always been the point.
The daily mass-market paper? Maybe thats done.
Print as a philosophy; a commitment to slowing down and getting it right and being authentic is thriving.
Traditional media sells trust. New media sells speed. The winners will figure out how to offer both.
This article was adapted from a conversation between Juma and Ayinde on the ITSGOODTORELATE PODCAST.
To watch the video yourself check it out here and subscibe for more Usefull Content.
