(Ecns.cn)--Kaila, the biweekly e-journal established by Chinese actress Xu Jinglei, has ceased publication, putting an end to a wave of celebrity e-magazines. It has been half a year since the latest issue of Kaila came out. So far, Xu has made no comment.
Xu started the e-journal in April 2007 and invited Wang Shuo and Han Han, two best-selling authors in China, to be her columnists. At the peak of its popularity, Kaila enjoyed annual advertising revenue of 20 million yuan ($3 million), with the clickthrough rate for a single issue once exceeding 100 million.
The wave of e-journals by celebrities began when Yang Lan, Chinese talk show hostess and co-owner of Sun Television Cybernetworks, launched the biweekly LAN on December 15, 2005. The journal's circulation reached 2.1 million in four months with an average clickthrough rate of 50 million. Advertisers needed to pay around 150,000 to 200,000 yuan ($23,700 to $31,600) for one page of flash advertisement.
But LAN folded at the end of 2009.
Many other e-journals headed by celebrities have also disappeared since the rise of microblogs. The Twitter-like social networking service not only enables celebrities to release their latest news and initiate discussions – which is the major function of e-journals – but also creates an instant two-way communication channel between stars and their fans.
A loyal reader of B-TIMES, an e-journal by young Chinese singer Zhou Bichang, told Wenhui Bao: "E-journals were one-way information providers and readers were always passive receivers. Though we could contribute to the journals and leave messages for the columnists or editors, our passion would easily wane during the long time span between issues."
Celebrity e-journals were also criticized of being dull and commercialized. Readers often found them nothing more than a photo album, a time table or even an advertisement for a new album.
On the other hand, some e-journals with no support from pop stars that offer attractive content have achieved remarkable success. First published in February 2006, Love Health targets white-collar women and provides up-to-date information about fitness, skin care and mental health. Now it has the largest circulation among all health e-journals in China.
