When the television came into mass-production, there was an expectation that it would mean the death of cinema, which until then was the main way your average punter could experience films, news reels, and more.

It’s been a common misconception that new technology will automatically signal the end of old tech. The reality is somewhere between those extremes. TV did have a huge impact on cinema, but going to the pictures has remained a fixture for many. As time wears on, technology develops and now it is streaming services duking it out with cinema for audiences. Will Netflix and Disney+ kill the cinema at last? Almost certainly not.

Digital has often been set up as a rival to print, and for sure it has had a huge impact, providing readers and industry marketeers with choices they never used to have. Some have been tricky to negotiate – at what point do you cease spending on printed catalogues in favour of digital versions. How do you judge when all your customers will be entirely happy using digital catalogues? The chances are, that you have been doing a bit of both. That seems a pragmatic option. Customers and audiences are not always keen (or particularly pleased) to shift behaviour and do what you tell them, even when it is massively convenient for you.

Having print magazines and purely digital magazines (such as this one) gives us a wide array of routes to reach readers and to be useful to them. I always think that show previews are a cracking example of that. There’s the option for readers to bring a print copy of a trade mag with them while they travel to a trade show. Likewise, a digital show preview (like the one in this issue for Fastener Fair Global) means you can travel lighter and conveniently scroll through some of the key exhibitors and do some research before you set foot in the exhibition hall.

Ultimately, in the age-old fight for customers, supplying your clients with options, rather than forcing them down a path that may be more beneficial to you, seems a reasonably sensible approach.