Question for my fellow elder millenials, or anyone who knows about the history and economics of journalism.
When I was a kid in the 90s, there were lots of print magazines for almost every imaginable special interest. There were multiple monthly magazines which talked about which metal albums were good, for example. I remember them as being crammed with advertising. The magazines cost money to buy but even as a kid I knew that was less important than the advertising.
How did that work? Financially, I mean. Seen through modern eyes it just feels like it wouldn't be viable.
A magazine is just a website, in a sense. It has costs to run, and it has content to draw people in, and it's full of advertising to put in front of those people to make money. If the money from that advertising is greater than the running cost and the cost of content, the magazine makes money. The magazine is almost certainly produced by a larger company that publishes loads of magazines, and can thus engage with advertisers more effectively. This basic idea has not changed.
EDIT: The core of my confusion is, given that professional-grade special-interest websites with high-quality writing aren't really financially viable today, why were they back then? Is it the cover price?
Passenger
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2026-04-24 10:49:36 UTC
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2026-04-24 10:49:36 UTCEvent JSON
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"content": "Question for my fellow elder millenials, or anyone who knows about the history and economics of journalism.\n\nWhen I was a kid in the 90s, there were lots of print magazines for almost every imaginable special interest. There were multiple monthly magazines which talked about which metal albums were good, for example. I remember them as being crammed with advertising. The magazines cost money to buy but even as a kid I knew that was less important than the advertising.\n\nHow did that work? Financially, I mean. Seen through modern eyes it just feels like it wouldn't be viable.\n\nA magazine is just a website, in a sense. It has costs to run, and it has content to draw people in, and it's full of advertising to put in front of those people to make money. If the money from that advertising is greater than the running cost and the cost of content, the magazine makes money. The magazine is almost certainly produced by a larger company that publishes loads of magazines, and can thus engage with advertisers more effectively. This basic idea has not changed.\n\nEDIT: The core of my confusion is, given that professional-grade special-interest websites with high-quality writing aren't really financially viable today, why were they back then? Is it the cover price?",
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