According to a breaking news story in the Boston Globe this afternoon, the Christian Science Monitor has opted to eliminate its [update] weekly print edition to focus on its core business, CSMonitor.com, its website. The article quotes CS Monitor editor John Yemma,
“We are getting out of the daily print business,” Yemma said. “By harnessing (our staff) to ‘Web first’ we will be putting the best of our content on the Web when it happens. It will be much more energetic. Much more a go-to place.”
With the cost of print increasingly becoming more expensive, it’s no surprise that a longtime print publication would opt to move online. Advertising is trackable, which appeals to advertisers, and it’s much more economical to publish online. Smart move by the Christian Science Monitor, that I expect will be followed by many other print publishers.
This is very big news for domain owners who have names that might be coveted by publishers – geodomains, for example 🙂 .