Newsweek is scrapping its print edition to go digital only in 2013, after struggling with print advertising.

Tina Brown, editor-in-chief of The Newsweek Daily Beast Company, and CEO Baba Shetty explained in a joint memo that The Daily Beast website, which Newsweek bought in 2008 and merged with Newsweek two years later, has gone from strength to strength, attracting more than 15m unique users a month. This is up 70% in the past year, with much of this traffic generated by Newsweek’s “strong original journalism”,

At the same time, Newsweek tablet audiences have been growing, while their print business has suffered from a “challenging” advertising environment.

“Currently, 39% of Americans say they get their news from an online source, according to a Pew Research Center study released last month,” the memo continues. “In our judgment, we have reached a tipping point at which we can most efficiently and effectively reach our readers in all-digital format.”

The transition will see Newsweek move to an all-digital format, Newsweek Global, in early 2013, with a single worldwide edition “targeted for a highly mobile, opinion-leading audience who want to learn about world events in a sophisticated context”.

Newsweek Global will be supported by paid subscription, with select content available on The Daily Beast.