Wildfire Disaster: Not Helping Magazine Web Traffic!
For six long days, wildfires have raged across southern California, displacing thousands, destroying millions of dollars worth of property; they still threaten tens of thousands of homes. Seven people are confirmed dead and an area twice the size of New York City is a charred wasteland. But the magazines must go on. According to Folio, the fires "have affected countless numbers of staffers at the region's magazines, publishers there say, but have yet to disrupt magazine production."
While these heroic publishers continue producing glossy content in the face of Mother Nature's terrible wrath, they are suffering. Magazines have seen barely any of the huge increase in web traffic seen by San Diego area newspapers and television stations.
The San Diego Union-Tribune has seen record-breaking web traffic since the start of this tragedy. "It's absolutely exploding," VP Chris Jennewein said, really, really unfortunately. But poor magazines have seen none of it! Their monthly frequency and apparent inability to update their websites to reflect the catastrophe unfolding around them means bad page views, yet another problem southern California must face as it rebuilds.
Though the Journal of Emergency Medical Services—publisher of Fire and Rescue and Wildland Fire—has really made the most of this exciting national disaster and traffic opportunity.
Fires Affect California Publishers Emotionally, But Operations Carry On [Folio]