Of course, it seems strange at first glance: a magazine that deals with paper and print will in future be presented as a purely digital medium? But time does not leave us without a trace, and on closer inspection it makes sense to execute the cut - which has to come anyway - now.

The fact that there are also calculatory considerations behind this need not be concealed. The profitability of print products is now more questionable than ever. Newspaper and magazine publishers have been reporting falling (print) runs for years, while the demand for digital offers is increasing. Newspaper printing plants have long since begun to convert their systems in order to be able to accept additional jobs - often commercial jobs - and thus to secure their capacity utilization, which would otherwise no longer exist. No, print is not dying out - packaging printing already takes care of that, compensating for a lot (and probably also concealing it) - but print will lose importance in broad terms. Anyone who does not want to admit this trend should bear in mind that the relationship between “analog generations” and digital natives is continuously shifting towards the latter year after year. Many specialist publications - across industries - no longer exist; in some cases the publishers behind it have ceased to exist, too, because they did not notice the change or did not notice it in time. Or they ignored it. Nowadays, specialist information and news have to be up-to-date and permanently available regardless of location. We don't want to be the last on this path - we want to actively shape it.

But there is yet another, compelling reason: sustainable management. In the past few months, there has been an increasing tendency for us to receive requests to switch to a digital subscription. Both private and commercial readers are banning print magazines from their mailboxes and desks in the interests of sustainability. These decisions are about the form, not the content - which is one of the reasons why the P3 will only be available digitally in the future - directly on your smartphone, tablet or PC.

But don't worry: you don't have to jump into the deep end with us. Right from the start, P3 was also available as an ePaper, which has long since proven itself. The know-how and the necessary infrastructure are therefore already in place - the content for the previous print editions was created and prepared digitally anyway. For you, the reader, this means: Immediate access to the current, but also to previous editions - without a pile of paper. In addition, the German and English versions are simultaneously available, the contents of which are not always identical due to the different readership groups. The topicality also increases; it is in the nature of things that a digital edition is available much earlier than a printed edition can land in your mailbox. And since there is no binding to a predefined layout, more design and content options open up - for example, the integration of media types and links, or simply the detachment from a fixed page limit.

With this in mind, we hope that you will take this step with us - because tomorrow, today will already be yesterday. So that you do not have to completely change your habits, subscribers to the print magazine will receive a small printed supplement with each digital issue until further notice, which will provide information on the current headlines and the content and should enable you to access our ePaper in a suitable form. Your previous subscription will automatically be adjusted to the new conditions. For online registration for the digital edition, we will soon provide you with a corresponding tool on our website - or you can contact us directly at abo@p3-news.com.