Case Study:
‘OUT’, A GAY MAGAZINE KILLS ITS WEB SITE

In a recent article in Advertising Age, Henry Scott, president of Out Publishing, was quoted giving a warning for Web publishers: "If your site doesn’t add to your bottom line, get out."

‘Nobody is turning a profit. . . . Publishers . . . didn’t have clear goals when their sites were launched, and when you don’t, it’s hard to know if you’re meeting them.’’

Out shut down its nearly two-year-old gay and lesbian site (http://www.out.com) last month.

Even with advertisers such as Apple Computer, Clairol and Nynex Corp., Scott said there was "no hope of profitability.’’ The site was losing $50,000 to $100,000 a year.

With the print magazine experiencing 43 percent growth in ad revenues over the previous year, Scott didn’t want his ad sales staff to focus on the Web.

"I started thinking," Scott is quoted as saying. "What are we getting from the Web site? I thought I needed to have it for advertisers who wanted that, but advertisers aren’t clamoring to get on the Web, we have to beat them up to get on the Web!’’