Magazine Death Pool

Jane: RIP July 2007

One year ago, practically to the day, I gave Jane a 20% chance of survival. We knew this was coming and sadly, but totally not expectedly, Conde Nast ended Jane today.

This was what I call a no brainer. The founder, Jane Pratt, left two years ago and now it's in the hands of Brandon Holley, whose name, you may notice, is not Jane. The readers dug Jane and her quirkiness and personality. So when Pratt had her baby and seemed to be pushed out, it was the first time that a namesake magazine was without the namesake.

So first Jane tried for the "millenials," which I guess has has been the recent ad sales lingo for what used to be called "Gen X." Advertisers didn't buy it -- in the first half of 2006, they lost 41% of their ads from the year before.

Well, you can read my previous post, but let's mourn Jane, coming of age as the complement in the lad mag era, offering young women an edgy, funny and personal magazine that really was ripe for the online world, something that never really took off as it should have.

That leaves just O as the only namesake magazine around these days, and the Hearst people must be looking at this development with great interest.

I know as Jane crosses the great River Styx today, we'll be thinking about the many Drew Barrymore covers all going up in flames. This magazine was definitely Conde Nast's potential ticket to hipness in the young women's category and now... well.... they can use all that saved money to help save Portfolio, which has a zero hip quotient.

Submitted For Your Approval: Jane Magazine

The Reaper is bored: it's all reruns, the All-Star Game was won by the American League. I was just chiseling my nails when something caught my glassy eyes: Jane magazine.

How do you solve a problem like Jane? You let the Reaper come by and knock on its new Conde Nast-furnished doors, and take everybody on a long subterranean boat ride.

The Reaper thinks this is a no-brainer candidate:

1. Namesake Jane Pratt, one marriage and one baby later, has a hasty questionable departure from her magazine.
2. Fairchild (aka Conde Nast) brings in new editor Brandon Holley, proclaiming that they don't need Jane Pratt because Jane magazine "is not a person but a state of mind."
3. Holley does the rounds of trade magazines, saying that they are going to freshen things up and reach out for a new audience: "millenials."
4. Advertisers don't understand how a magazine called Jane can still be the same without an editor named Jane (Pratt). They are probably wondering what this "millennial" business is too.
5. In the first half of 2006, Jane magazine loses 41% of its ad pages from the same period a year ago. The Reaper hasn't seen those kinds of numbers since I was ready to snatch the Industry Standard from the green earth.
6. Fairchild and Conde Nast are learning a tough, tough lesson about naming a magazine after a strong personality and that personality leaves.
7. Hearst executives start wondering the same thing about "O" if Oprah decides she wants to devote more time to weight loss, spanking plagiarists or sharing pearls of wisdom on her new satellite radio staion.

ODDS OF SURVIVAL: 20%