Another iconic magazine is slashing its print run, as New York magazine confirmed Monday that it will drop to bi-weekly publication starting in the first quarter of 2014.
Company executives confirmed the magazine lost around $1 million this year.
The change, which The Post reported exclusively on Oct. 17 was under consideration at the 45-year-old magazine, is expected to start in March.
Prior to the financial meltdown in 2008, the magazine was routinely pulling in 3,300 ad pages a year. This year the print edition will barely be above 2,000 ad pages.
The company claims it is repositioning the venerable publication for the way people consume modern media.
“Legacy media companies are trying to change the tires while they are doing 100 mph,” said Barry Lowenthal, president of Media Kitchen, an ad-buying agency.
“While print has been challenged, it will end the year within 5 percent of last year’s performance,” insisted Publisher Larry Burstein, who said the frequency changes will save $3.5 million in printing and distribution costs.
“Revenue is growing and more than half the revs are coming from digital because digital is growing, while print is operating close to flat,” Burstein added.
“Personally I am sad because I enjoyed reading New York magazine every week,” said Lowenthal.
But he said the change for New York and other print publications is inevitable. “As ad budgets go more and more for digital, they were faced with the question of how do they make up the margins they were getting in print,” he said.
“For some brands, New York may be a must have, but clearly not for enough brands. Maybe this will give it a lifeline.”
The move to slash costs by dropping some of the printed editions has come up for discussion even when its benefactor Bruce Wasserstein was still alive. He bought the magazine in 2004 and it has been run by a family trust since he died in 2009.
“We’ve had the discussions about this move for the last five or six years,” said Chief Executive Anup Bagaria.
The move — from 42 issues this year to 27 in 2014 — signals “forward-thinking changes that best position the company for future growth,” he said. The magazine had shrunk to 42 issues, with the advent of double issues, over the past few years.
“We want to make New York more of a nationally focused publication,” Bagaria added.
The 2014 schedule also will include three special issues. In 2015, it will become a true fortnightly publication, with 26 regular issues — plus the three specials.
New York was founded by legendary editor Clay Felker in 1968 and has been a weekly ever since.
Editor-in-Chief Adam Moss plans to hire about 15 more people to work on the Web products with a new fashion section called The Cut and news columnists on Hollywood, sex and business.