Digital publishing news for July 30, 2013
Publishers are taking a great deal of time and research to get multiplatform publishing right. FOLIO Magazine took the pulse of a couple publishers to see what steps publishers like Rodale are taking to make the shift to multiplatform publishing easier.
Rodale’s approach has focused around investing in various technologies to mange content like “big data analysis, cloud services, content delivery networks, DAM, Digital Rights Management (DRM) and security.” Anthony Astarita, senior vice president at Rodale talked about content management: ” The key drivers in content [are] knowing what you have and being able to get it,” he says. “Secondary to that is introducing intelligent systems that can begin to learn the data and the consumer, always trying to make the experience for them more relevant.”
Astarita also mentioned how their approach isn’t all technology focused, “their multiplatform content delivery was still based on a “design first” and “product-centric” approach, necessitating long-term investment in people with user experience and cross channel expertise.”
Different approaches for different types of publications, right? Paul Winston, associate publisher of Business Insurance says tablet app development was “the best platform for long-form news and analysis supported by data, sidebars [and] graphics.”
“We are attracted to content technologies that allow us to leverage production and distribution across multiple platforms or channels, rather than requiring our team to reinvent the wheel for every platform we use,” said Winston.
The big takeaway here is that your content should dictate how you manage multiplatform digital publishing.
Big Year For The Week
Subscription Site Central reports that The Week has had impressive growth in their digital subscriptions over the past year.
“In just one year, The Week’s digital-only subscriptions (i.e., app subscriptions for the iPhone, iPad, Android or Kindle platforms) has grown from 4% of total subscribers to 13%. Bundle subscribers (subscribers paying a higher premium for print and digital access) have grown from 17% to 27%.”
The Week also has an impressive number of digital subscribers: “out of The Week’s current 160,000 subscribers, 64,000 are willing to pay for access to the magazine’s tablet (or mobile) app.”
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Adobe Releases New Mobile Consumer Survey Results
Adobe has announced the results of there new mobile consumer survey. In they explain why:
- Smartphones are becoming the preferred form of web access
- Tablet use is predicted to generate 10% of all website visits in 2014
- Tablet users spend more than mobile users
- Mobile search and display ads are expected to grow 50% by 2015
B2B Marketers Favor Events
A new research study from The Association of Business Information & Media Companies shows that B2B marketers “place a very high value on trade shows and conferences, especially for lead generation and promoting new products.”
The survey also asked specifically about the success they had in generating leads. The results were clear, “90 percent of marketers rated event attendance as a successful way to generate leads, and 76 percent cited event sponsorship as successful. Those were the methods that ranked highest, followed by third party webinars, at 65 percent, search engine ads, at 62 percent, and sponsored white papers, at 61 percent.”
Publishers should take interest in the fact that whitepaper sponsorship and e-mail newsletter sponsorship were both seen as fairly successful platforms for creating awareness for new products and lead generation. Whitepaper sponsorship came in third & email newsletter sponsorship sixth.
Updates To The New Republic & American Photo
Talking New Media reports that The New Republic has updated it iPad app.”The big change for The New Republic for iPad is the app’s storefront which features a nice preview of the most recent issue, a sample issue, and a three panel carousel at the top.”
Publisher Bonnier has also just released an new version of American Photo.
“The update is probably related to the recent update of the platform itself to version 4.2.2 which Mag+ describes as “critical”: We have just released the 4.2.2 version of the Mag+ iOS app, and it contains a critical update: If you do not update your app to this version, it is possible that users upgrading to iOS7 this fall will get all of your issues for free.”
Yikes! Mag+ publishers please take note.
A New Chief Revenue Officer At Hearst Magazines
Fishbowl NY reports that “Todd Haskell is leaving The New York Times for Hearst Magazines, where he’ll serve as senior vice president, chief revenue officer of Hearst Magazines Digital Media.” Haskell starts his post at Hearst Digital Media in September.
