Laura Brown Departs InStyle As It Ends Print Run – WWD

InStyle editor-in-chief Laura Brown is leaving the sleek women’s fashion magazine when its new owners end its 27-year printing run.

Barry Diller’s Dotdash Media Company Meredithbought Meredith last year for $2.7 billion, told employees on Wednesday that six of the magazines it acquired — InStyle, Entertainment Weekly, eatWell, Health, Father and People en Español — would become publications. digital products only. The move will result in about 200 job losses, and WWD learned from multiple sources including Brown, InStyle’s editor-in-chief since 2016. It is also understood that some of the company’s highest-paid publishers you are leaving.

A Dotdash spokesperson Meredith confirmed that Brown is no longer with the company. “We can confirm Laura Brown’s position as editor-in-chief of print magazine InStyle has been removed. Laura has been an inspirational leader and integral in defining InStyle’s vision. She left an indelible mark on the brand and was central to InStyle becoming the influential voice it is today.”

Earlier in the day, Dotdash Meredith CEO Neil Vogel told employees: “This is an important step in the evolution of Dotdash Meredith, and I want to make it clear to everyone what we are doing. do and what’s to come. We said at the beginning, buying Meredith is buying the brand, not the magazine or the website. Not everyone believes that there has been a marked shift in readership and advertising from print to digital, and as a result, for some key brands, print is no longer serving its primary purpose. brand core. As such, we’re looking to a digital-only future for these brands, which will help us unleash their full potential. ”

He added that while “opponents will see this as another nail in the coffin of the print press, they couldn’t be more wrong… from People to the BHG to Living in the Southern Forest, and all the publications. Our other print favorite, we continue to provide incredible value to our print readers, and we’re proud to print more than 350 million magazines by 2022.” For those that still remain. In print, it plans to improve the paper quality, crop the size, and improve the imaging capabilities.

It was widely expected that the acquisition would lead to a reduction in print volume, with the word “digital” being used 23 times in the original press release announcing the sale. In contrast, “print” is only used twice, and one of those mentions is to indicate that MeredithIts digital ad revenue has surpassed print ad revenue for the past three quarters.

Print journalism, an industry that has struggled before the pandemic, has gained a lot of popularity in recent years. Earlier this week, Cosmopolitan revealed that earlier this year it will print eight themed problems, each entry is specific to a different topic and is numbered instead of tied to a specific month. In 2019, it published 12 issues, then 10 issues in 2020 when the pandemic begins and 9 issues in 2021. Marie Claire, which Hearst sold to Future, just published now two printing problems a year, while WSJ., The Wall Street Journal’s luxury fashion and culture magazine, cuts frequency from 12 issues to 8 in 2021 with a new focus on digital platforms .

InStyle is the only women’s fashion magazine to have 12 issues in print for 2020, and in the editor’s latest letter, editor-in-chief Laura Brown ran pictures of every cover and thanked her team he worked hard. It is unknown if she later knew that the InStyle print run was coming to an end.

“I’m running photos of every cover we’ve published since COVID, starting with our May 2020 issue. A total of 84 – including newsstands and subscriber covers. Dr. M. Jana Broadhurst appears on the June 2020 cover, as we celebrate the healthcare workers who keep us safe. Anthony Fauci followed up in September with a much-needed fancy cover featuring Zendaya and “They Love NY,” a community tribute inspired by Gigli’s Girls in the Windows,” Brown said in Her editor’s letter.

On InStyle, a Dotdash spokesperson Meredith said: “InStyle has become one of our most vibrant digital assets, seeing over 40% growth year-on-year online. . InStyle will continue to grow and thrive online, benefiting from the massive investments we are making across all of our brands by 2022.”

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