The New Yorker wants younger readers — but not enough to change itself
It’s a swim that’s very choppy for just about every magazine and newspaper, and has been for years. The New Yorker —piles of which exist in the apartments of everyone who considers themselves smart and savvy — is no different. Its strength is print. Now in its 90th year, the magazine still operates at a high level. In 2015, it won three National Magazine awards including one for general excellence.
Remnick’s answer in how to move The New Yorker across that oceanic divide: Embrace the future, but don’t let it define you.
Back in 2001, Remnick, editor of the magazine, insisted on having a paywall long before asking readers to pony up dough on the Internet was seen as viable. Remnick says the paywall is about having a “healthy business,” which means in turn, for The New Yorker, “being true to ourselves.”
The paywall wasn’t an enormous success at first — until it made a major change. The New Yorker is now almost exactly one year removed from that tweak, making six articles per month free to read instead of walling off its best content.
That has been a turning point for the magazine, according to Monica Ray, head consumer marketing at Condé Nast, which owns the New Yorker.
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