“Print is dead.” If you’ve heard it once, you’ve heard it a thousand times.

These days it’s impossible to go very long without reading or hearing about how smartphones and tablets are replacing printed materials. But while it’s 100% true in many respects, there’s one medium where print still reigns: magazines.

There’s a common belief that only older people read magazines. Even if you’ve read about how custom magazines drive online sales and web traffic, you may be hesitant to spend time planning and launching a custom publication for your organization for fear of a slow and steady decline as the Baby Boomers get older.

The reality is, however, that there’s little evidence to support this misconception. In fact, the 2016/17 Magazine Media Factbook showed exactly the opposite: 91% of American adults read magazine media, and that number increases to 94% for adults under 35 and 96% for adults under 25.

Those young adults aren’t just picking up magazines every now and then, either. The average person aged 18-25 read more than ten issues in the last month, and the top 20% of people in that age group read more than 22 issues. Those totals are just as high or higher than those for all adults. If you produce compelling content, you have little reason to fear it going unread.

“But maybe those readers are mostly working professionals,” you say. Not so! 90% of college students read at least one magazine in the last month, and they’re just as likely to visit websites they see in magazines, take advantage of printed offers and promotions, and pass magazines along to their friends. That means that you can use a custom magazine to build your brand, whether you’re based in a suburb full of young commuters or a college town that replaces 25% of its population every year.

A custom magazine is a lot more than just a complementary tool in your arsenal when you’re trying to reach young people. It can and should be one of your primary tools, because print magazines reach more teens and young adults than the top 25 primetime TV shows, and their content is more trusted and influential than that on TV, radio, and the Internet.

What’s more, print magazine readers are proven early adopters of the latest tools and technology. You’d be hard pressed to find an audience with a greater interest in learning about the medical advances your organization is bringing to your local community.

We know that launching a custom publication is a big decision, with many factors to consider, but whether or not you can use such a tool to reach young people shouldn’t be one of them. And that’s great news if you’re trying to earn customers or patients for life.