Last year Readers Digest announced a multi media joint venture with Rick Warren called Purpose Driven Connection. It appears the cross media idea hasn’t drawn the expected consumers.
The magazine will cease publication after the Christmas issue due out in mid-November.

Warren, the pastor of Saddleback Church in California and author of the bestselling book “Purpose Driven Life” said that he and RDA will transition the project into a web only venture over the next few months.

RDA, which is operating in Chapter 11 bankruptcy, will cease funding the operation entirely in March 2010 and turn the project over to the Warren’s company.

Okay, so Rick Warren fans don’t read magazines. How is the website working out? Alexa pageviews:

The church site and pastors site are doing better than this one.  Saddleback’s public relations people (A. Larry Ross Communications) have tried to put a positive and purposeful spin on the cancellation of this joint venture.

“Impressive reader feedback has prompted us to focus all our energies on our digital format, so our content can be expanded, international, interactive and free,” Warren explained. “The positive response from readers was so overwhelming we didn’t want the content to be limited only to Americans who could afford a subscription to a magazine.”

Okay, world wide web-savvy fan base. Hmmm.

Since the launch of Purpose Driven Connection magazine in January 2009, subscribers to Daily Hope, Warren’s free, daily digital devotional has grown to nearly 400,000 people. “Our biggest discovery was learning that people prefer reading our content online rather than in print, because it is more convenient and accessible,” said Warren. “Cell phones now allow us to take content everywhere. And, from our viewpoint, an online magazine allows us to minister to people internationally; provide more content and features than we could fit in a print magazine; create interaction and two-way dialogue; and offer it for free. “So when we heard the feedback and noticed subscriptions to the print magazine lagging behind Internet usage, in spite of strong retail newsstand sales, we jumped at the chance to go all digital,” Warren concluded. “Thankfully, Reader’s Digest was willing to help us make the transition.”

A subscription to the quarterly oversize glossy purpose-driven connection magazine,(plus access to the website and study guides) had cost cost 29.95/US yearly. People who bought in will be refunded. Readers Digest personnel are not affected, the magazine was put out by Saddleback Church employees and freelancers.

Positive, Off-the-Charts User Feedback Prompts Ministry to Transition And Expand to Interactive Services and Free Content

Purposefully painful pr hype. This is more what I expected, a subtle swipe at the former partner. According to Brian Bird, managing editor of the magazine and Web site:

…subscriptions were between 2,500 and 5,000 per month.

“I imagine (Reader’s Digest officials) were hoping for this to explode, and it didn’t explode,” Bird said. “But it’s had slow, steady growth. It takes a long time for anything to really grow, especially in a competitive media culture.”