InStyle's print edition ended — 'print is no longer serving the brand'

On February 9, 2022, Dotdash Meredith announced in a chief executive memo, effective immediately, that it was ending print publication for six of its titles: InStyle, Entertainment Weekly, EatingWell, Health, Parents and People en Español. The move came barely two months after Dotdash — the IAC digital publisher formerly known as About.com — closed its $2.7 billion acquisition of Meredith. Chief executive Neil Vogel made the intent explicit: 'We have said from the beginning, buying Meredith was about buying brands, not magazines or websites.'

A 'pronounced shift in readership and advertising from print to digital' meant that for these brands, 'print is no longer serving the brand's core purpose.' InStyle's online audience was up more than 40 per cent year over year; April 2022 would be its last print issue. Vogel insisted the step 'is not a cost savings exercise and it is not about capturing synergies… it is about embracing the inevitable digital future.' Roughly 200 print-supporting roles were eliminated; the Meredith Union said nine of its members were cut and called the layoffs 'rushed and disrespectful.'

Print was not dying across the portfolio — it was being sorted. Dotdash Meredith said it would still print more than 350 million magazines in 2022, and flagship titles like People and Food & Wine kept their print editions. What ended was the middle: six titles whose print editions no longer justified themselves once their readers and their advertisers had moved online. InStyle became a website the same week the memo arrived.