Conde Nast Commits to the Internet

Conde Nast, the nation’s second-largest magazine publisher, has upped its commitment to the web, reflecting readers’ propensity to now turn to the internet in addition to (and sometimes instead of) the print version, writes the New York Times (via MarketingVox). Conde Nast is upgrading its Brides.com, in part to compete with theknot.com. It is also hiring web editors for all of its 29 consumer magazines (only half now have them), and it is about to launch a site for teenage girls and a new business magazine. Having seen the newspapers lose readers to the web, magazine companies are making new investments online. For privately held Conde Nast, that effort appears significant.

“The sense of urgency, the sense of moment, has arrived,” said David Remnick, editor in chief of the New Yorker, which is among those at Conde Nast searching for a web editor.

Though drops in magazine circulation have not been as drastic as for newspapers and magazines tend to have a more intimate relationship with their readers, publishers “gain a broader audience and more loyalty from…subscribers if you extend the experience into the web,” said Steven Newhouse, chairman of Advance.net, which oversees the local websites of the Newhouse newspapers and the sites of Conde Nast, all of which are owned by Advance Publications.

Conde Nast was relatively early to the web, with its decision to build a destination site, epicurious.com, a decade ago. It used content from Gourmet and Bon Appetit magazines and has subsequently built other such destination sites, including style.com, with content from Vogue and W, and concierge.com from Conde Nast Traveler.