The Onion, Playboy bringing back print editions amid trend to go digital

The Onion and Playboy are among the publications bucking the trend and bringing back their printed editions rather than remaining all digital. These announcements come as others cease printing altogether.

In July, five newspapers in Oregon stopped printing , citing common reasons like lack of advertising revenue, drop in circulation and a focus on digital. But The Onion , the satirical newspaper known for standing out from the crowd, is looking start printing again.

It is returning to its roots by bringing back its printed newspaper for the first time in more than a decade — and it’s not a joke. The Onion will send out monthly editions to its online subscribers, taking a page from its early days in the 1980s.

Former NBC News reporter Ben Collins was named CEO of The Onion earlier in 2024 by the company’s new owners. Collins told The New York Times that the print edition is one of several perks for subscribers. It is meant to be a way to keep the readers invested in the brand and to keep them paying the $5 monthly subscription fee.

While the trend may be to shutter print to save money, The Onion is not alone in challenging that thinking. Earlier this year, Bedford Media — the holding company founded by model and entrepreneur Karlie Kloss and her husband investor Josh Kushner — acquired the rights to Life magazine. The company plans to relaunch Life as a print magazine — something that hasn’t been seen in 24 years.

On Aug. 8, Playboy, which stopped printing its physical magazine in 2020 after 66 years, announced it’s bringing the printed version back .

This time, it's on an annual basis, with the first issue set to come in February 2025.

While it’s common for legacy publications to switch from the printed page to online, a website is becoming a magazine.

The Cut, a New York Magazine site owned by Vox Media, will be releasing its first stand-alone fall fashion print edition in September.

But as these brands turn to print, others say they see the writing on the wall. For instance, United Airlines is halting the printing of its 32-year-old inflight magazine “Hemispheres.” It too will be replaced with a digital version starting in September, meaning print publications are still in a fight for survival whether it’s on the magazine rack or 30,000 feet up.

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