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Janice Min's Hollywood Reporter will switch to a weekly magazine next next month, the New York Times says. "A mix of analytical and feature articles and photo spreads, will be coupled with an aggressive and redesigned Web operation built around breaking news. A daily digital edition, in a PDF file, will replace the daily printed version distributed to subscribers now." The story talks to Min and Richard Beckman, chief executive of the parent company, e5 Global Media.
The Reporter wants to transform the way it does business but also change the model that has allowed the Hollywood trade publications to exist for nearly a century. Heavily dependent on advertising from the entertainment industry, publications like Variety and The Reporter have long provided favorable coverage of the films and studios that pay their bills. Mr. Beckman is gunning for a larger slice of the advertising market: beauty, fashion, consumer electronics and liquor, for starters.“We’re not going to be a product that purely strokes the industry because the industry won’t respect that,” said Mr. Beckman, a former top executive with Condé Nast who is known as Mad Dog.
He says the staff will grow by about half to 70. The price will rise to $5.99, up from $2.99 for the daily issue now.