Dylan Tweney
Business

IDG Chief Pat McGovern: No More Magazine Launches

In an interview with Mark Glaser earlier this week, IDG chief Pat McGovern — who just closed the doors on InfoWorld as a print publication — explained his company’s new approach to tech journalism: No new print launches. Instead, IDG will start new publications online — and if they get big enough, IDG will poll […]

P_mcgovern
In an interview with Mark Glaser earlier this week, IDG chief Pat McGovern -- who just closed the doors on InfoWorld as a print publication -- explained his company's new approach to tech journalism: No new print launches. Instead, IDG will start new publications online -- and if they get big enough, IDG will poll users to find out if they want a print version.

When we get 50,000 or 60,000 registered users, we can take a random sample of those and ask, ‘Would you like a magazine or a newspaper on the subject?

That's a remarkably smart approach, particularly given that McGovern has been running IDG for nearly 40 years and has made his fortune on old-school print journalism. But McGovern has always been a savvy, nimble publisher, and has kept IDG afloat -- and thriving -- even as former trade press competitors like Ziff-Davis and CMP have struggled to adapt to the new, Web-centric world. Not bad for a guy who got his start selling a newsletter for mainframe users.