Deathwatch 2006

It's official, the days of boy bands and pop starlets has come to a close. Thankfully, the powers that be in the publishing world, who for years, were mistaken in their impression that teenage girls still thought of themselves as kids, are starting to see the light. The most recent example? Teen People has folded, as announced by AdAge today. OK, ok...sure it's 'going digital', it just won't be on a newsstand near you or have even a slice of the revenue pie it once basked in.

Shocking? Hardly. Ask anyone in media for a reaction this afternoon and the response was likely a shug of their sholders and quip that it's not terribly surprising.

Teens these days are little adults. They have credit cards, have to program their parents' tech toys and most certainly don't want to be thought of as, well...kids. So, it should come as no surprise that The Millenials (the name given to the generation following Gen Ys who followed Gen X who follow the Baby Busts who follow the...) don't want to be seen with nor read a Jr Edition of the mags they already can get their hands on.

Who's next? Ellegirl just folded, er "went digital", Teen collapsed not too long back and YM's long ago forgotten. The only little girls left in the ever evolving category are: Teen Vogue, Seventeen, Cosmogirl. And you know what they're reading? The dot coms: Pinkisthenewblog, Dlisted, tmz, et all. The mags: US Weekly, People, Cosmo.

Hmm....