Time Inc. joins rush to World Wide Web - Pathfinder service on the Internet - Brief Article

Folio: The Magazine for Magazine Management, Nov 15, 1994

Time Inc. has begun testing its own World Wide Web site, testimony to the growing allure of the Internet as the next frontier of commercial opportunity. Called Pathfinder, Time Inc.'s fledgling service will give Internet users who have the right software the ability to browse through a selection of multimedia offerings, including Time and Vibe.

The site also carries ads from the likes of AT&T. The coming months will see an influx of publishers setting up their own Web sites. Playboy opened its area in August--offering a digital showroom for its ancillary products--and plans to provide editorial content shortly. Wired's revamped HotWired was close to being operational at press time, with a reported nine national advertisers signed on. Ziff-Davis Publishing will have a Web site for its new consumer title, ComputerLife, within the next two months. Mecklermedia is overhauling its area and will offer magazine and newsletter publishers space to set up their own Web sites. And Times Mirror Magazines plans to start its own area. The attraction for publishers: controlling the look and feel of their sites; incorporating multimedia; allowing users to jump from one area to related topics with the click of a mouse, thanks to hypertext links; and keeping ad revenue for themselves, which is not an option in most deals with the commercial services. Publishers can set up their own Web sites at a cost in the low six figures, including about $75,000 for the hardware and $15,000 a year for a T-1 phone connection.