More details have emerged on the reasons behind Toronto Life’s decision to scrap its blogs.

Publisher Sharon McAuley said the magazine was rethinking its approach as the blogs had failed to attract enough audience to justify their costs and that advertising revenue was lower than expected.

Commercial realities of the softening advertising market led to this reassessment, explained McAuley:

I think the whole industry is grappling a little bit with what’s going on in the advertising world. The online world had always been forecast to have a greater ad-dollar growth curve than print, and our online revenues continue to grow.

But blogs are not dead yet, Toronto Life web editor Matthew Fox told Masthead Online:

 There are certainly ‘brand-name bloggers’ in Torontolife.com’s future, though they will not appear immediately. One possibility is the beginning of a real estate blog, which may come on-line in the next months. I can’t confirm if it will go through, but it is an idea that is already far into development. In the new year, and certainly in the event of a re-design, there will be additional bloggers added to our roster.

As Canadian Magazine comments, some of the high-profile blogs were barely given a few months to establish themselves.  Philip Preville’s City State was live for barely a month.

As any seasoned blogger will know, it takes time, dedication and patience to build an audience.