• by Wendy Davis , April 14, 2005

Health Web site WebMD is moving from pixels to ink, spinning off a bimonthly print publication, WebMD the Magazine. One million copies of the first issue, which is being distributed free to practicing physicians, will start appearing next week in doctors' offices nationwide next week.

The articles are written by the same editors, writers, and physicians who create Web site content, said Wayne Gattinella, president of WebMD Health. For the premiere issue, the cover story is about actress Brooke Shields' experience with postpartum depression.

"We think there's a tremendous opportunity to extend our brand offline," Gattinella said. The company also hopes to drive traffic to the Internet site, and many editorial pages contain links to the WebMD Web site.

The 56-page debut issue contains 17 pages of ads, mainly for pharmaceutical products, but also for consumer packaged goods, including products from Atkins Nutritionals. For the inaugural edition, WebMD used a separate sales force to sell ads, and had no special discounts for online advertisers, although that might change in the future, said Gattinella.

WebMD's move into print comes at the same time that other magazines, such as Maxim, are seeking to increase their online presence. Late last month, Maxim Online announced a deal wtih MSN Video to give consumers free, on-demand access to Maxim video content. And Radar magazine--which has been on hiatus since publishing two issues in 2003--will appear on the Web at www.radarmagazine.com at the end of April before re-launching in print on May 24.