The Web magazine, a monthly that broke the mold of Net-focused print periodicals by focusing on the entertainment world's growing online dimension and serving up covers with non-geek notables like Cindy Crawford and Homer Simpson, is suspending publication after a so-far fruitless search for a mainstream publishing partner.
Editor in chief Steve Fox said in an interview Tuesday evening that the magazine's publisher, PCW Communications, a division of IDG, announced that the 200,000-circulation monthly would go "on hiatus" immediately. The February book that's about to go in the mail is the last scheduled edition.
Although the announcement was abrupt, the company's decision was "no surprise to anyone," Fox said. "They've been talking to various partnership possibilities about sharing the risks - and the rewards - of this venture."
Talks with publishers already established in the consumer market had been going on for several months, Fox said. IDG, which in The Web had ventured into territory far afield of its hard-core tech experience, was also looking for a partner able to widen the magazine's circle of general advertisers and add muscle in the struggle for newsstand space.
"As far as readership, no one had any complaints. But on the newsstands, we did not have the clout to get out there," Fox said. "You have to be either very tall or very short to find us. When you say you want to get a consumer partner, it's to get that positions on the newsstand."
Fox said the magazine's high-profile Webby award show will go an as scheduled in March. The periodical's companion Web site will also continue in a form still to be determined. Fox said IDG is making a serious effort to place the publication's 25 editorial, art, circulation, advertising, and support staff.
The Web is the latest in a string of canceled magazines dedicated to Net culture: The Net went on hiatus in August, though a relaunch is expected in the next several months. Similar efforts that have run aground include NetGuide, Internet Underground, and Websight.
IDG aimed The Web away from the usual crowd of surfin' geeks, geek-wannabes, and neophytes looking to "unleash the power of Netscape 2 (or 3 or 4)" toward an audience that publishers already know exists. Thus the magazine's focus on the entertainment world and its new dimension on the Internet. With the developing convergence between the Web, television, sports, movies, and other mass-market entertainments, it looked like a smart bet.
Fox emphasized that the search for a partner is still on. Rich Moreno, president of parent company PCW Communications, could not immediately be reached for comment.
The Web, with Fox as founding editor, hit the stands in the fall of 1996. Its circulation today stands at 200,000, roughly 33 percent growth in the past six months. The only other Web-focused magazine addressed to a mainstream consumer audience, Ziff-Davis' Yahoo Internet Life, launched in late 1995 and has a circulation roughly double The Web's.
Janelle Brown and Steve Silberman of the Wired News staff contributed to this report.
