US News & World Report hasn't given up on being a news weekly, despite having trimmed its publication schedule to monthly last November. Now, the publication is launching a weekly digital edition, available in PDF format, for $19.95, reports MediaBuyerPlanner.
Readers wary of the format can get a trial subscription of four issues for $3.95 — subscribers to US News & World Report can get the new version for free.
"I don’t think the newsweekly concept's outdated," editor Brian Kelly is quoted as saying. "I think it's the delivery method that’s outdated. To produce a great report, close the magazine on Thursday night and then readers don’t get it until Monday - that's insane."
The digital edition will close on Thursday night and be available at noon Friday.
U.S News & World Report's ad pages plummeted 32.4% in 2008, per the Publishers Information Bureau (via Folio), for the steepest loss of any title in the newsweekly category.
