Magazines vs. the metaverse: Can traditional print differentiate in the AI boom?

The end of the human touch on creativity is upon us, or so the AI proponents say. Whilst the apocalyptic disintegration of man might seem precariously nigh, it’s indubitably true that some industries are bearing the lashings of the surging waves of change more than others. A report by MAGNA recently revealed that traditional publishing media – particularly print – faces a global 4% downturn in anticipated ad revenues between now and 2024 – amongst the lowest on the ROI scales when weighed against its more digitised counterparts.

But with affluence, celebrity, and pop culture consumption at an all-time high, and the seemingly recession-proof nature of luxury consumer markets, is the future of print magazines as bleak as it seems? Can glossies pivot to meet the impending AI boom and if so, what's the missing ingredient to long-term success?

When asked, the common answer to this question appears to lie in overcoming a two-fold challenge: addressing shifting competition to digital platforms, and limiting ad spend reallocations to said platforms. Elements such as news aggregators, AI-generated content systems, and the expansion of social media are brought up, all of which have profoundly upturned the creative economy – making it harder and harder to find a unique place to stand out. After all, there is no shortage of content and noise on Web2, and soon, on Web3. Where timeliness and first-to-know information was once a selling advantage, the deterioration of the sanctity of 'breaking news' is no longer territoralised by these outlets, too. Now, everyone is a journalist and a creative – all from behind the lens of their smart phone cameras. As for entertainment? Well, Netflix can give you hours upon hours of it, so what do you need a print tabloid to do that for anymore?

That’s why endlessly, critics of print lament the same strategy: going tech-first is the answer to creative print’s problems; get digital, reallocate the ad money, and enjoy success.

Right?

Well, maybe not.

Most print publications, at least the hefty global ones such as Time, Vogue, The Economist, GQ and the like, have already extended the digital olive branch through offering online versions of their content, built robust social media handles, and are now cautiously dabbling in the areas of the AI and the metaverse. Earlier this year, Vogue Singapore launched their first AI-generated covers in partnership with Mumbai-based creative director Varun Gupta. Gupta leveraged tools such as MidJourney and Dall-E to create three unique avatar models for the cover – each inspired by varying South-Asian heritage, and fashioned in real-life couture. In an article by the publication, they described them (the covers) as “a celebration of the past while reimagining the future”, with editor-in-chief Desmond Lim stating that “developments in AI have opened up a broader conversation” when it comes to innovation for creatives in the print space. This was one amongst several projects for the publication over recent years, who also published the infamous ‘September issue’ of Vogue Singapore as an NFT QR code in 2021. News of both went viral, featured in the likes of Forbes and beyond.

Vogue Singapore's March 2023 'Roots' cover, featuring AI-generated models

Similarly, in July 2022, Time Magazine commissioned Micah Johnson, a former major league baseball player-turned-digital-artist to craft a metaverse-inspired cover using his character ‘Aku’ – who Johnson considers ‘the world’s first digital explorer’. The helmet-clad astronaut brought PR buzz aplenty to the publication, with Johnson’s character having generated more than $20 million in sales at the time of publication, making him the first NFT artist to secure major TV and film development deals.

Time's metaverse cover featuring digital explorer, Aku.

The list goes on. Men’s magazine GQ too, published their first ever metaverse issue (aptly dubbed ‘The Metaverse Issue') last year, featuring a series of articles on detangling the digital sphere, so readers could both understand the hype and gain a perspective on how to experience it for themselves. The publication also announced the launch of a brand-new Discord community, targeted at bringing together their readership community to get to know the team and “attend talkbacks and digital events, get exclusive behind-the-scenes content, and get a first look at everything GQ’s developing in Web3 and the metaverse.”

GQ launched their first-ever metaverse issue in 2022.

So, when critics of print say the industry isn’t doing enough and isn’t quite ‘with the new age of tech’, where does that leave those who are trying?

Perhaps, focusing on the wrong thing. Print will never be digital and digital will never be print, and that’s perfectly okay. You don’t have to become a tech company to succeed; the tactile touch of a magazine is exactly what we buy it for. With products like Apple Vision Pro starting to infiltrate the market, no matter how much VR-ing and AR-ing creative print can do, it will never measure up to the experience that can be offered by a company solely created to deliver technological value. It’s beyond brand positioning or offerings, it’s inherent DNA. It’s like a Toyota and a Tesla: they’ll never be the same, even if they fulfill a common purpose.

The real key to differentiation lies in where it all began: the content. As a former editor of print publications in APAC, I can attest to the firsthand experience of watching magazines fly off shelves over the last two years, based on creative and content strategy alone. The language of Culture is powerful, especially when harnessed through the right voices. The right mix of insight, analysis, relatability and thought-provocation can be exactly what you need to outbid your competition, digital or not. In a bid to outmaneuver perceptions of resistance and dogma, the print industry often misses this critical insight.

Make no mistake, content – especially that which is led by culturally creative prowess – is still very much king. And for print: differentiation lies in the ability to leverage it, mould it and carve a niche of it, in a way that is profusely unique to your own voice. Whilst news and analysis can be broken by AI, what cannot be defined by it is the status quo – the ethos of the moment and the reverberating essence of what’s ‘cool’ and what’s not. Magazines and their associated brands carry weight not in their mediums, but in their cultural currency. The heritage, legacy and levity of brands such as those mentioned above, bring leverage to conversations that cannot be found by AI-generated posts online. Try as it might, auto-created content can’t give you the social capital that Vogue, Time, or GQ can. No one wants to tell their friends that Chat GPT loved their outfit at a party, and that’s a fact. If Anna Wintour does however, now that’s something to write home about.

The era of AI might be beckoning, but the ushering out of the human condition remains unlikely anytime soon. Print isn’t dead, it’s just ripe for a reckoning – one that’s founded in the roots of the trees its planted from (as is the paper it comes from). As they say, when you want to change the world, start by looking within and what you already know how to do best. That’s where true differentiation already lies.