Colin Crawford of b-to-b media company IDG has an interesting post on his blog that is really a must-read for anyone in print media.  Here’s a taste:

In the US, our online revenue now accounts for over 35% of our total
US publishing revenues. Next year, for many brands online revenues will
be greater than print revenues, if fact they already are at some of our
key brands and by 2009 – approximately 50% of IDG’s US revenues will
come from online.

To drive this change and to focus on online revenue we’ve changed
the business mission of our organization away from print. Going forward
IDG Communications will define itself as a web centric information
company complemented by expos, events and print publications.

The brutal reality that we’re facing today is the costly process of
dismantling and replacing legacy operations and cultures and business
models with ones with new and yet to be fully proven business models.
However, we face greater risks if we don’t transform our organization
and take some chances…

Figuring out the transformation from print to online is only the start.
The information we produce, facilitate and aggregate increasingly will
be viewed on a number of screens – the Computer, the TV, the smart
mobile phone, the iPod and other portable entertainment devices. Many
of these screens are more suited to video and audio than text. Even
more new skills for our organization to master! (Emphasis mine).

If I had to point to one traditional print company that has really taken off in terms of their online efforts it would be The Washington Post.  Blogs out the wazoo, tons of video and reporters that shoot and edit their own video (my cousin found that out first hand) show the Post’s willingness to throw effort and resources into the online realm.  And why not?  If you could take the millions you spend on ink, paper and presses and spend it instead on resources that actually create more content for consumers and further your advantage over other information providers wouldn’t it make more sense than cutting down more trees?  And as information consumption patterns continue to trend towards digital (PDAs, smart phones, etc.) wouldn’t it be crazy to not follow the eyeballs?  Just one more reason I think the print operations that don’t experiment while they still hold a monopolistic status are killing their future business.