<Page> Exhibit 99.1 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE PRIMEDIA ANNOUNCES NEW STRATEGIC OPERATING STRUCTURE - COMPANY ESTABLISHES FOUR BUSINESS SEGMENTS AND KEY GROWTH PLATFORMS - PROVIDES GREATER CLARITY ON BUSINESS PERFORMANCE TO INVESTOR COMMUNITY NEW YORK, FEBRUARY 5, 2004 - PRIMEDIA Inc. (NYSE: PRM) announced today a new strategic operating structure for the company that aligns its businesses into four new segments. The four segments, Enthusiast Media, Consumer Guides, Business Information and Education and Training, align the company's businesses based on common operating strategies, target markets and investment characteristics, providing both management and the investor community with greater clarity and visibility on the performance of the company's key businesses. "Since joining the company last quarter, I have focused on reviewing our operations and identifying a strategy that will enable us to capitalize on the full potential of PRIMEDIA's businesses and maximize our operating performance," said Kelly Conlin, President and CEO of PRIMEDIA. "As our management team coalesced around key investment and organic growth initiatives, it became apparent we needed a structure that better aligned our businesses and enabled us to provide a clearer sense of our strategic focus and operating performance. We believe the structure we are announcing today does just that. As we execute our strategy and make investments in 2004, our customers, employees and investors will clearly see the results of our efforts." "We intend to grow this company by maximizing and expanding our market leading brands," Conlin continued. "As measured by our revenues, our Enthusiast Media segment makes us by far the largest enthusiast publisher in the country. In our Consumer Guides segment, we not only have the leading publication, but we have the largest national distribution system. In our Business Information segment, we have a number of leading brands that can be expanded into more robust information services. And our Education and Training segment has some unique products that can be operated more successfully." The company's four segments, along with their operating profile and key priorities, are outlined below: - - PRIMEDIA ENTHUSIAST MEDIA encompasses the company's consumer magazine brands, including their related Web sites and live events, as well as About.com. In 2003, Enthusiast Media generated $725.9 million of revenue, 54% of PRIMEDIA's total revenue(1) from continuing operations, and $146.9 million in Segment EBITDA(2) for a Segment EBITDA margin of 20%. The Enthusiast Media segment produces over 120 magazine titles, is the third largest overall producer of magazine advertising pages in the U.S and has market leading <Page> Page 2 positions in the Automotive, Outdoor, Action Sports, Crafts, History, Marine, Equine and Home Technology categories. Brands include MOTOR TREND, AUTOMOBILE, HOT ROD, TRUCKIN', SUPER STREET, SURFER, IN FISHERMAN, FLORIDA SPORTSMAN, CREATING KEEPSAKES, SNOWBOARDER, POWER & MOTORYACHT, STEREOPHILE and HOME THEATER. About.com and the magazine-branded Web sites collectively are the 10th most visited collection of consumer Web sites in the U.S. as ranked by Nielsen/Net Ratings, with an average of 29.6 million unique visitors each month in 2003. "We have set a number of key priorities within our Enthusiast Media segment for 2004 including both operational and investment initiatives that will help us achieve organic growth," stated Conlin. "We have streamlined management by creating direct reporting lines from the executives running these business units directly to me. We also brought a new divisional CFO on board who will improve our operating focus and reporting metrics for these businesses. "Equally important, we are investing in these businesses. We will improve the editorial product by redesigning more than a dozen publications in the largest product upgrade initiative in our company's history. In the first quarter of 2004 alone, our redesign debuts include MOTOR TREND and the 30 editions of GAME & FISH. We have recently named a new CEO of About.com who has planned a first half release of a complete site redesign and editorial packaging that will increase visit frequency and page views per unique visitor. We will capitalize on our Google advertising partnership by extending the program across all company websites to maximize participation in the contextual online advertising market. "Also, in the first quarter, we are consolidating from multiple fulfillment systems to a single fulfillment center for all of our product merchandise. This consolidation will ultimately allow one technology platform and shopping cart across all company Web sites, enabling an enhanced user experience and cross promotion for the company's 2,100 SKUs of branded products--books, videos, DVD's, apparel and calendars. In addition, our licensees sell over 1,500 SKUs of products through our license agreements. Also, we are revitalizing our retail initiatives. In the first half of the year, for example, our programs will include new IN-FISHERMAN videos in Wal-Mart stores; LOWRIDER apparel line in Sears; MOTOR TREND'S Mr. Clean Autodry from Procter & Gamble; HOT ROD and SUPER STREET radio-controlled vehicles from RadioShack; and CREATING KEEPSAKES Scrapbooking Designer Software and How-To Book on QVC. Our existing television programming, including HOT ROD TV and IN-FISHERMAN TV, will be joined by new programming in the hunting market for North American WHITETAIL TV and GUNS & AMMO TV. "Finally, we have commissioned research from a leading independent media consultant that will quantify PRIMEDIA's reach across key demographic groups, particularly young men, to support advertising programs for consumer goods companies across our portfolio. This research, which will be introduced to the market in the first half of the year, shows our audience reach is second only to Time Inc. More importantly, among key demographic targets, PRIMEDIA has a superior collective audience that can be reached more cost effectively than through a single, broadly circulated title." <Page> Page 3 - - PRIMEDIA CONSUMER GUIDES is the largest publisher and distributor of free publications, including APARTMENT GUIDE, NEW HOMES GUIDE and the recently launched AUTO GUIDE. In 2003, PRIMEDIA Consumer Guides generated $276.6 million in revenue(1), 20% of PRIMEDIA's total revenue for continuing operations, and $83.2 million in Segment EBITDA(2), for a Segment EBITDA margin of 30%. PRIMEDIA Consumer Guides publishes and distributes 81 APARTMENT GUIDES in 75 regional markets with a combined monthly circulation of 1.6 million. Through the Guides and the Apartmentguide.com Web site, the company generated 5.8 million leads for apartment property managers in 2003. The company publishes and distributes 17 NEW HOME GUIDES and plans to launch in additional markets this year. Additionally, Consumer Guides will launch its first AUTO GUIDE in Charlotte, NC in the first half. Consumer Guides' distribution arm, DistribuTech, has exclusive distribution relationships with many of the country's leading supermarkets and chain stores and, last year, distributed more than 2,000 publications to these venues on behalf of other publishing organizations. "Consumer Guides presents a compelling growth opportunity for the company," stated Conlin. "We intend to invest in this business to fulfill its potential in the marketplace by building on our proprietary distribution channel and successful high margin business model to enter the substantial market for pre-owned vehicle advertising and continue expanding our existing brands into additional markets. The new AUTO GUIDE will publish the most current vehicle inventory in the market and also provide customer leads to dealers through its Web site. In addition, we believe that both our APARTMENT GUIDE and NEW HOME GUIDE businesses have the opportunity to enter new markets. In the last quarter, we entered the Portland, Oregon market through an acquisition, and there are other opportunities in development." - - PRIMEDIA BUSINESS INFORMATION consists of business-to-business targeted publications, Web sites, and special events with a focus on bringing sellers together with qualified buyers in numerous industries. The Business Information segment consists of 78 magazines, 108 Web sites, 23 events and 53 directories and data products, serving professionals in diverse market sectors. In 2003, Business Information generated $228.8 million in revenue(1), 17% of PRIMEDIA's total revenue for continuing operations, and $34.2 million in Segment EBITDA(2), for a Segment EBITDA margin of 15%. "Our Business Information segment has taken many necessary and prudent steps to position itself for the market turnaround in business-to-business," said Conlin. "As we look towards 2004, we believe there are many opportunities to enhance marketing programs beyond print advertising by expanding the use of e-mail newsletters, Webcasts, market databases and other tools to provide marketing programs that identify prospects and deliver leads to customer sales organizations. Beyond that, we need to develop 'must have' information businesses by taking our data-oriented products -- EQUIPMENT WATCH, AC-U-KWIK, PRICE DIGESTS, BLUE BOOK, MAINTENANCE GUIDES--and expanding their electronic delivery capabilities. Moreover, there is an opportunity to use this data model in other categories where we have proprietary content and customer databases to build subscription data services." <Page> Page 4 - - PRIMEDIA EDUCATION AND TRAINING combines the businesses that provide content for schools, universities, government and other public institutions as well as corporate training initiatives. The business includes Channel One, Films for the Humanities and Workplace Learning. In 2003, Education and Training generated $119.8 million in revenue(1), 9% of PRIMEDIA's total revenue for continuing operations, and $5.7 million in Segment EBITDA(2), for a Segment EBITDA margin of 5%. Education and Training has significant reach within several different customer segments. CHANNEL ONE NEWS is the highest rated teen television program, reaching almost 8 million teens daily in over 350,000 classrooms across America on an average school day. CHANNEL ONE NEWS is watched by a teen audience that is ten times larger than the nightly newscast of ABC, NBC, CBS and the cable networks combined. Films for the Humanities and Sciences is a leading distributor of videos, DVDs, and CD-ROMs to schools, colleges, and libraries in North America, with approximately 2,900 owned and 10,100 licensed educational videos, DVDs, CD-ROMs and related products. Workplace Learning, a leading provider of integrated training, information and communication solutions for improving employee performance, is a leader in such markets as fire and emergency services (Fire and Emergency Television Network) where it reached more than 250,000 fire and EMS personnel last year, as well as industrial (Industrial Training Systems), healthcare (Health and Sciences Television Network), pharmaceuticals (Interactive Medical Networks), government (Law Enforcement Training Network) and banking (Bankers Training and Consulting Company). "Each of our education and training businesses presents a compelling business opportunity. In 2004, Channel One is focusing on expanding its number of advertisers that are targeting the hard to reach youth audience. Channel One has also formed a partnership with MTV in the first half of the year to produce a primetime series entitled "True Life" and also with ABC News for Channel One reporters to appear on ABC News. Films for the Humanities has recently named a new CEO, who is planning the introduction of new digital platform delivery systems to leverage the market's most extensive backlist of supplemental educational programming with its owned and licensed educational videos, DVDs, CD-ROMs and related products. Workplace Learning is focused on growing in profitable vertical markets where the company has proprietary content and unique distribution advantages, including banking, healthcare and government." Concluded Conlin, "We are excited about the opportunity we have to organically grow our core businesses. This is a year of investment and focus, and we are optimistic that we will be able to demonstrate tangible positive results as the year progresses." An attachment to this release provides key segment financial, product and market data. In a separate release issued today, PRIMEDIA reported its financial results for the fourth quarter of 2003 including the results of these new segments. The company provided two years of historical quarterly financial results by the new operating segments in an attachment to that release. - ---------- (1) This presentation eliminates all intrasegment activity. (2) Reconciled to GAAP measure in the attached table. <Page> Page 5 ABOUT PRIMEDIA PRIMEDIA is the leading targeted media company in the United States. With 2003 revenues from continuing businesses of $1.3 billion, our properties deliver content via print as well as the Internet, live events and video and offer highly effective advertising and marketing solutions in some of the most sought after niche markets. PRIMEDIA Enthusiast Media includes more than 120 consumer magazines, their web sites and About.com, and is the #1 special interest magazine publisher in the U.S. with well-known brands such as MOTOR TREND, AUTOMOBILE, CREATING KEEPSAKES, IN-FISHERMAN, POWER & MOTORYACHT, HOT ROD, SNOWBOARDER, STEREOPHILE and SURFER. PRIMEDIA Consumer Guides is the #1 publisher and distributor of free consumer guides, with APARTMENT GUIDE, AUTO GUIDE and NEW HOMES GUIDE. PRIMEDIA Business Information has leading positions in 20 market sectors such as agribusiness, communications, entertainment, marketing and transportation. PRIMEDIA Education and Training includes Channel One and other educational and training products. PRIMEDIA's stock symbol is NYSE: PRM. ### Contact: Elliot Sloane 212-446-1860 esloane@sloanepr.com (media) Jim Magrone 212-745-0634 jmagrone@primedia.com (investors) Table Follows <Page> Page 6 PRIMEDIA INC. RECONCILIATION OF SEGMENT EBITDA TO LOSS BEFORE PROVISION FOR INCOME TAXES ($ IN MILLIONS) <Table> <Caption> Full Year 2003 --------- REVENUES, NET: Enthusiast Media $ 725.9 Consumer Guides 276.6 Business Information 228.8 Education and Training 119.8 Eliminations (5.5) --------- Total Revenues, net $ 1,345.6 --------- SEGMENT EBITDA: Enthusiast Media $ 146.9 Consumer Guides 83.2 Business Information 34.2 Education and Training 5.7 Corporate Overhead (25.9) Depreciation of Property and Equipment (55.9) Amortization of Intangible Assets and Other (76.0) Severance Related to Separated Senior Executives (9.4) Non-Cash Compensation and Non-Recurring Charges (11.2) Provision for Severance, Closures and Restructuring Related Costs (8.7) Loss on Sale of Businesses and Other, Net (0.5) --------- Operating Income 82.4 --------- OTHER EXPENSE: Provision for the impairment of investments (9.0) Interest expense (124.5) Interest on shares subject to mandatory redemption (21.9) Amortization of deferred financing costs (3.5) Other expense, net (3.1) --------- LOSS BEFORE PROVISION FOR INCOME TAXES $ (79.6) --------- </Table> <Page> KEY PRIMEDIA SEGMENT FINANCIAL, PRODUCT AND MARKET DATA ENTHUSIAST MEDIA: (Includes: consumer magazines, their related Web sites, events, and About.com) FINANCIAL PERFORMANCE <Table> <Caption> % OF ($ millions) 2003 2003 CONSOLIDATED -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Revenue (1) $ 725.9 54% Segment EBITDA (2) $ 146.9 Segment EBITDA Margin 20% </Table> (1) For continuing businesses. This presentation eliminates all intrasegment activity. (2) For continuing businesses. Reconciled to GAAP measure in the attached table. PRODUCTS <Table> <Caption> GROUP PUBLICATIONS WEB SITES EVENTS REPRESENTATIVE BRANDS - --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Enthusiast 52 52 31 HOT ROD, TRUCKIN, SUPER STREET, Automotive LOWRIDER, MOTORCYCLIST, FOUR WHEELER, MUSCLE MUSTANGS & FAST FORDS Consumer 3 4 17 MOTOR TREND, AUTOMOBILE, TRUCK TREND, Automotive INTELLICHOICE Outdoor 16 17 17 IN-FISHERMAN, GAME & FISH, FLORIDA SPORTSMAN Action Sports 10 11 25 SURFER, SNOWBOARDER, SLAM Home Technology 7 5 3 STEREOPHILE, HOME THEATER, SHUTTERBUG, PHOTOGRAPHIC Lifestyles 33 21 14 CREATING KEEPSAKES, POWER & MOTORYACHT, EQUUS, SAIL, SOAP OPERA DIGEST, AMERICAN HISTORY Online Guides 450 About.com TOTAL 121 560 107 </Table> COMPETITIVE POSITION [CHART] 2003 PUBLISHERS BY AD PAGES <Table> <Caption> RANK PUBLISHER AD PAGES 1 Gruner & Jahr 7,527 2 American Media 8,556 3 CMP Publications 9,501 4 Hachette Filipacchi 14,404 5 Hearst 19,611 6 PRIMEDIA 22,196 7 Advance/Conde Nast 26,933 8 Time, Inc. 44,906 </Table> Source: 2003 MIN <Page> Page 2 [CHART] TOTAL GROSS AUDIENCE BY PUBLISHING COMPANY <Table> Hachette 62 Meredith 72 Conde Nast 95 Hearst 112 PRIMEDIA 128 Time Inc. 172 </Table> Source: 2003 Spring MRI; PRIMEDIA audience shown is the gross sum of MRI measured readership and DJG Marketing estimates of unmeasured magazine readership based on industry norms. CONSUMER GUIDES (Includes: APARTMENT GUIDE, NEW HOMES GUIDE, their related Web sites and DistribuTech) FINANCIAL PERFORMANCE <Table> <Caption> % OF ($ millions) 2003 2003 CONSOLIDATED -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Revenue (1) $ 276.6 20% Segment EBITDA (2) $ 83.2 Segment EBITDA Margin 30% </Table> (1) For continuing businesses. This presentation eliminates all intrasegment activity. (2) For continuing businesses. Reconciled to GAAP measure in attached table. PRODUCTS <Table> <Caption> NEW DISTRIBUTECH APARTMENT HOMES RETAIL REGION GUIDES GUIDES LOCATIONS MAJOR MARKETS - ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Northeast 25 5 5,121 Washington D.C., Philadelphia, Baltimore, Chicago Southeast 23 4 3,006 Atlanta, Tampa, Orlando, Broward Midwest 14 5 2,448 Dallas, Houston, Austin, Kansas City West 19 3 5,452 Phoenix, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, San Francisco TOTAL 81 17 16,027 </Table> <Page> Page 3 BUSINESS INFORMATION (Includes: trade magazines, events, directories and data products, and their related Web sites) FINANCIAL PERFORMANCE <Table> <Caption> % OF ($ millions) 2003 2003 CONSOLIDATED -------------------------------------------------------------------- Revenue (1) $ 228.8 17% Segment EBITDA (2) $ 34.2 Segment EBITDA Margin 15% </Table> (1) For continuing businesses. This presentation eliminates all intrasegment activity. (2) For continuing businesses. Reconciled to GAAP measure in attached table. PRODUCTS <Table> <Caption> DIRECTORIES, DATA PRODUCTS & BUYER'S WEB CATEGORY PUBLICATIONS GUIDES SITES EVENTS REPRESENTATIVE BRANDS - ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Transportation & 15 13 19 1 PRICE DIGESTS, AC-U-KWIK, CLYMER MANUALS, Public Services WARD'S AUTO WORLD, AMERICAN TRUCKER, FIRE CHIEF, WASTE AGE, AMERICAN SCHOOL AND UNIVERSITY Entertainment and 13 11 17 4 BROADCAST ENGINEERING, ELECTRONIC MUSICIAN, Media MIX, VIDEO SYSTEMS, MILLIMETER Technology 7 7 9 2 ELECTRONICS SOURCE BOOK, TELEPHONY, PAPER FILM AND FOIL CONVERTER Energy and 12 9 21 6 ELECTRICAL CONSTRUCTION & MAINTENANCE, Construction TRANSMISSION AND DISTRIBUTION WORLD, CONCRETE PRODUCTS, EQUIPMENT WATCH, ACCESS CONTROL AND SECURITY SYSTEMS Marketing and 11 7 15 6 MEETINGS MAGAZINES, SPECIAL EVENTS, AMERICAN Meetings DEMOGRAPHICS Financial Services 4 2 5 0 REGISTERED REP., TRUSTS AND ESTATES, NATIONAL and Real Estate REAL ESTATE INVESTOR Agribusiness and 14 2 17 0 BEEF, CORN AND SOYBEAN DIGEST, STITCHES, Textiles MODERN UNIFORMS Fitness and Healthcare 2 2 5 4 CLUB INDUSTRY, HOMECARE TOTAL 78 53 108 23 </Table> <Page> Page 4 EDUCATION AND TRAINING (Includes: Workplace Learning, Channel One and Films for the Humanities) FINANCIAL PERFORMANCE <Table> <Caption> % OF ($ millions) 2003 2003 CONSOLIDATED -------------------------------------------------------------------- Revenue (1) $ 119.8 9% Segment EBITDA (2) $ 5.7 Segment EBITDA Margin 5% </Table> (1) For continuing businesses. This presentation eliminates all intrasegment activity. (2) For continuing businesses. Reconciled to GAAP measure in attached table. PRODUCTS <Table> <Caption> BUSINESS DESCRIPTION KEY BRANDS/MARKETS --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Channel One Broadcast to almost CHANNEL ONE NEWS 8 million students, 350,000+ classrooms, and almost 12,000 schools Films for the Distributes 2,900 owned Films for the Humanities, Humanities and products and 10,100 licensed Cambridge, Meridian, and Sciences products Shopware Workplace Learning Creates, produces, and - Banking distributes proprietary - Government content for employee training. - Healthcare Platforms include satellite - Public & Private programming, interactive Security multimedia, Internet, books, - Industrial CDs, and videos </Table>