Media Beat: Ann Shoket Says “The Web is Not Eating Our Lunch”

Know of any young people who get their news from the daily paper or monthly magazine? Nah, me neither. So you’d think that, out of all the publications folding left and right, those in the teen category would be suffering more than most.

Not true, says Ann Shoket, editor-in-chief of Seventeen. Not only does she refuse to buy into the print-is-dying belief, she says the 66-year-old publication actually gained readers in the coveted under-21 set during the recession. “The Web is not eating our lunch. We don’t have a readership problem. We are not losing our readership to the Web,” says Shoket. “Girls love the Internet, absolutely, but the Internet brings us readers.”

Watch the first installment of our interview for more details on the “Seventeen everywhere” philosophy and Shoket’s take on the current fashion-magazine-as-reality-show trend.

Part 2: Media Beat: Ann Shoket Says Editors Need to Think Beyond the Page

Part 3: Media Beat: Ann Shoket’s Role in the Launch of mediabistro.com

Media Beat is mediabistro.com’s interview series with the movers and shakers of the media world. View all past episodes at MediaBeat.com.

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