I think that, like newspapers, the value is in the content more than the presentation. So magazines with excellent writing (New Yorker, Vanity Fair), better in

I think that, like newspapers, the value is in the content more than the presentation. So magazines with excellent writing (New Yorker, Vanity Fair), better information (Economist), that nail a niche (National Geographic), or that have a positioning value (celeb mags at the checkout isle) will be much better off. An interesting example of where the magazine format matters is Seed magazine. It's not particularly special content (kind of midway between Popular Science and an academic journal) but it is well designed and beautiful from front to back. I doubt I'd ever read it online but I love the mag. Ditto for National Geographic.