Teen Vogue to Move to Digital Only as Condé Nast Shutters its Print Edition

By Megan Reynolds | November 2, 2017 | 2:05pm

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Condé Nast announced Thursday that Teen Vogue will no longer run in print, WWD reports, part of overall budget cuts and cost-saving measures implemented across the company as more of their publications pivot to digital.

Teen Vogue, which has been publishing five print issues per year, will close its print edition. In addition to Teen Vogue, “GQ, Glamour, Allure and Architectural Digest will go from 12 issues to 11; Bon Appétit will go from 11 issues to 10, and W and Condé Nast Traveler will now have eight issues, down from 10.”

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As for Elaine Welteroth, the woman in charge of Teen Vogue’s sudden “woke” activation, WWD reports that she may stay at the magazine in some capacity, and will perhaps find another role within the company. For those living blissfully under a very cozy rock, Teen Vogue went from adult Vogue’s sister publication to the political and inclusive space for teens it is today under Welteroth’s guidance, helped in part by an op-ed published in December 2016 called “Donald Trump Is Gaslighting America.”

For a publication whose aim seems to be reaching swaths of young people interested in politics and fashion and makeup and culture at the same time, going digital-only seems like it should’ve happened a long time ago. Speaking during Adweek’s Elevate summit, Welteroth said that Teen Vogue’s digital traffic has grown from 2 million to 12 million unique users.

“Even with the beauty stories we put out, we saw there was an opportunity to address issues of representation, identity, self-expression,” Welteroth said at the summit. “We created the community that we wanted to have at Teen Vogue. We were willing to lose some to have more.”

In addition to this bump in digital attention, it was announced in September that Teen Vogue will hold a conference in early December, ostensibly for teens and young adults to empower themselves via keynotes, workshops, and panels for the low, low cost of $249 per day. Maybe no one wants to read magazines anymore—just attend conferences, network with like-minded (rich) teens, and surf the web.