TIME says it begins the year-long celebration of its centennial with the release of a new multi-platform editorial project that both commemorates the enduring power of TIME’s iconic red border and looks toward the next century by exploring the voices, ideas, and innovations that will drive global progress for the future.
Since its first issue on March 3, 1923, TIME has told the stories of the people who shape, challenge, and inspire the world. Today, TIME says it reaches the largest audience in its history — more than 100 million people around the world across its platforms — and its magazine, has more than 1 million subscribers.
“We are proud and energized to enter our centennial year with the largest and most engaged audience in our history and a powerful brand built on TIME’s legacy of 100 years of trust and impactful storytelling,” said TIME chief executive officer Jessica Sibley. “Now, as we celebrate this milestone, we are focused on cementing TIME's position for the future by continuing to accelerate our digital transformation, while reaching new customers and audiences and driving relevancy.”
Sibley and TIME editor-in-chief and executive chairman Edward Felsenthal write in a special letter to readers: “This issue is, for all of us at TIME, an extraordinarily special one. Publishing 100 years since our brand came to life as a 32-page weekly, it is a marker of constancy and change. Constancy in our unwavering commitment to trusted journalism that tells the world’s story through the people who shape it. Change in so many ways, but most importantly in the stories themselves and the ways we tell them.”
They continue: “TIME’s co-founder Henry Luce saw business as an exercise in foresight, and the company he launched was from the start an innovator. Out of TIME’s pages sprang numerous new businesses and brands, from Fortune and Sports Illustrated to, decades later, People and HBO.... As we begin our second century, that spirit of innovation and disruption inspires us every day. At this moment of massive transformation in our industry and the world we cover, we are more committed than ever before to ensuring that our company and our journalism thrive in the decades to come.”
TIME’s says its centennial editorial project, which launches today and will continue throughout the year, features reflections on 100 years of history through the eyes of the people who lived it, including interviews with prominent TIME cover subjects, as well as original essays and new reporting on the remarkable history of TIME’s most memorable covers. In addition, TIME will turn to leading voices from around the world on what the next century will hold.
The publisher outlined that the highlights from TIME’s Century of Influence project include:
- TIME's Creative Director D.W. Pine, who has created more than 800 covers in 25 years, on what the cover of TIME means and how it has evolved over the course of a century
- The Dalai Lama on the gratitude he feels looking back at his escape from Tibet 64 years after appearing on the cover of TIME
- Bibi Aisha's TIME cover showed the world the brutality of the Taliban. In an interview with Angelina Jolie, Aisha speaks about how it also changed her life
- Laverne Cox on what’s changed since the ‘Transgender Tipping Point’ TIME cover
- Spike Lee on Jackie Robinson’s influence and the 1947 TIME cover of the athlete that now hangs in his office
- A decade later, Jamie Lynne Grumet from TIME's controversial breastfeeding cover on why she’s glad she did it
- Nancy Gibbs, the first woman to be editor-in-chief of TIME, on the lasting influence of the magazine's 1923 debut
- Former editor-in-chief of TIME Richard Stengel on how TIME's choice of 'You' for Person of the Year in 2006 was mocked but now seems prescient
- Martin Luther King Jr.’s letter to TIME co-founder Henry Luce on being named ‘Man of the Year’
- Big Bird on how TIME should celebrate 100 years by being neighborly
- An interview with TIME Inc. archivist Bill Hooper on the ever-lasting influence of the newsmagazine.
TIME added it plans to recognize its 100th anniversary at each of its tentpole events around the world throughout 2023 by shining a spotlight on the people, including world leaders, athletes, artists, activists, and more, who have built a legacy of influence. Additional plans for TIME’s centennial will be announced throughout the year.
TIME says its centennial year aligns with a period of record growth, digital transformation and innovation at TIME, including year-over-year revenue growth in 2021 and 2022 and the launch of six new business divisions: the Emmy Award-winning film and television division TIME Studios that has generated more than $100 million in revenue; a rapidly growing global live events business built around its iconic TIME100 and Person of the Year franchises; an industry-leading web3 division including the TIMEPieces NFT community; Red Border Studios, producer of award-winning branded content; the website-building platform TIME Sites, which TIME acquired earlier this year; and the sustainability and climate-action platform TIME CO2.
To learn more about TIME’s centennial, visit TIME.com.
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