Despite the fantastic growth in Internet usage throughout the world, the Internet has done little to disturb the growing retail circulation of magazines and should be of little threat in the next five years to traditional print publications.

However, the magazines that will continue to grow their print circulation in the future will be those that embrace the Internet and use its obvious strengths of immediacy and interactivity to offset the inherent failings of print media.

Any magazine wishing to maintain circulation and increase advertising revenue will have to engage existing readers and attract new readers primarily through their web-presence. To date very few magazines have done a good job with their websites. Most have simply replicated content from their print publications. Some of the more advanced have built forums and membership facilities with exclusive promotions for online readers, but aside from this, the web presence of most magazine brands is underwhelming.

The greatest weakness of a printed publication is that the information contained is always at least as old as the length of the print production process itself. For the fastest magazines this is at least 2 days, but most take several weeks from final proof to general release. On the other hand, the greatest strength of the Internet is that production to publication is more or less immediate. To offset the weakness in print delay and capitalise on the immediacy of the Internet, successful magazines will need use their websites in two ways. Firstly, they will need to complement printed content with additional information on the web after a printed issue has been released. And secondly, they will need to publish teaser articles online as a precursor to in depth coverage appearing in subsequent issues. It sounds simple, but few magazines are doing this well.

The structure of most editorial departments is preventing this. The traditional print production process is like a Greek dance. It starts slow with editors planning the general themes of an issue, and then gradually filling in the detail. As stories come in, the pages are filled and the pace increases before the final flurry as the deadline approaches. The last stories are collected. The pages are proofed. And the product is printed and distributed. Advertising departments work in the same way, pre-booking pages many months in advance, before offering discounts and special deals as deadline draws near. On the other hand, quality online content requires constant attention from both advertising sales and editorial departments. Successful magazines in the future will need to employ separate online teams working on creating daily content to capitalise on breaking developments and tactical advertising opportunities. Traditional editorial teams are simply not accustomed to producing quality content every single day, and certainly cannot do this on top of their existing editorial responsibilities.

Whatever happens, established publishing houses will always have the upper hand over individuals as long as they have access to quality content. Publishers have long established relationships with celebrities, publicists, politicians, photographers, talented journalists, designers, direct marketing databases, and advertising clients, which cannot be easily replicated by individuals. More than anything else, access to quality content will ensure that the popularity of established magazine brands is unlikely to wane in the near future.