We recently received an issue of Hiii magazine. One of the newest launches to hit newsstands, the title from founders Rob Hill and Pam Patterson is also one of the most innovative. Certainly the most in recent memory.

With slick, smooth pages friendly to the fingertips and stoner-wit touted as the “Vanity Fair of weed,” the thick book is as much a highbrow peek into the world of cannabis as it is a playful read. It’s even printed with a comic flipbook in its margins and a shout-out to legendary stoner Willie Nelson — “Roll me up and smoke me when I die” — printed down its edge. The mag is fun. It’s inventive. And it exists only in print.

Think about it. When you pick up a beautifully designed magazine — Interview, The Atlantic, Purple, The New Yorker, Dazed, Apartamento — engaging with the content commands a different level of attention. Reading a tangible magazine creates a more immersive and memorable experience that pixels on a screen simply can’t emulate. The current digital age would have us all believe the only experiences that matter happen online — pics or didn’t happen — with advertisers buying in by shifting budgets and shoving print to the wayside.

But something interesting has happened.

Not only is digital content saturated with pop-ups and banners and videos and other unsolicited fodder that clouds what you’re reading, but mindless social media scrolling and the never-ending war on mis/disinformation have created an unpleasant and oft-volatile landscape readers must enter at their own risk. Because of this, print has become our sensory anchor in an otherwise chaotic online world.

Lending credibility and permanence not achievable by content online, books, magazines, and the like are intentional. So is the advertising between the covers. A well-placed ad in a reputable publication delivers an air of authority and trust. Such brand assurance and consumer confidence is a significant advantage in a world where the estimated ad spend lost to digital ad fraud is expected to swell to $172 billion by 2028.

Beyond the quality and intention behind the advertisements, the content you find in print carries an overall value unmatched by its digital counterparts. Vetted, researched, challenged, and verified, print content offers a quality of writing immensely greater than the listicles, roundups, and clickbait created for digital or mobile consumption. And that’s before you even get to truth vs. fiction.

We live in uncertain times: socially, politically, and environmentally. The need for journalistic sources we can all agree are rooted in fact — those that cut through the barrage of “fake news” to deliver tangible records and trusted knowledge not curated by algorithms — is more urgent now than ever. At Spacely, we wholly believe the breadth of a single page still carries the weight of the truth.

Of course, we certainly see the allure of digital content. There are some unique capabilities, like ease of sharing and tracking reader preferences. But that is the icing, not the cake.

Digital media have diverging incentives from print. Writers for every digital publication, even those with print titles, are tasked with churning out short-form content like X (formerly Twitter) reactions and “snackable” articles less than 300 words — and doing this eight times a day. The writers are talented, no doubt, but the digital media landscape has become a feudal enterprise, and the skills and talents of our very best writers are being spent as sharecroppers of content.

For a writer, or journalist, or storyteller of any genre, fiction or otherwise, their best work deserves time, and consideration, and research, and a canvas worthy of their efforts; unencumbered by the demands of an algorithm; uninfluenced by the targeting, re-targeting, or negative targeting of pixel-stitched display ads stalking readers from venue to venue. And they deserve uninterrupted engagement from their reader.

Now, we aren’t calling on anyone to take sides: Team Print vs. Team Digital. Instead, what we’re pointing out is this new equilibrium, in which print and digital live and work in harmony. What we’re seeing in 2025 is a smarter, more integrated approach to creating and consuming content, with advertisers taking note. Realizing well-rounded marketing strategy and 360-degree campaigns, they, too, see print as a powerful anchor in building brand recognition and creating lasting impressions.

As the medium continues to evolve (expanded sizes, higher-quality printing techniques and materials, integrations like QR codes and augmented reality, and playful advertising), expect it to fill a fixed and complementary role alongside digital platforms. In an ever-changing marketing landscape, embracing a more strategic future is the only way forward.

In 2025, print and print advertising aren’t just surviving; they’re thriving. Last year alone saw 39 new magazine launches and nine re-launches, alongside more than a thousand bookazines and mini-zines. Shuttered titles like Life, Spin, and Saveur were resurrected. The Atlantic saw its greatest subscription increase in 2024 to more than a million and expanded its issues from 10 to 12. And new titles like Hiii pushed print into a new frontier, proving that Egon Spengler should stick to spores, rather than deciding the fate of a beloved medium.

Print is, in fact, riding high right now. So, don’t write it off.