Leader among print magazines — and, now, online magazines — finds the right audience development strategy for digital consumers
Digital consumers are the end all be all for Internet publishing companies. Everything revenue-related runs through them. Digital consumers click, read, subscribe, and share. They are the goal.
Here’s the good news: This keeps things simple, and digital consumers are there for the taking. How do we know this? Because we’re digital consumers ourselves. And because we’re seeing print magazines more and more make the transition to the web with a clear idea of how to maximize multiplatform publishing opportunities instead of stumbling around in the dark.
Some of those magazines are Mequoda Members, and some are legacy publishers with the resources to afford a larger margin of error. And then there’s The New Yorker, which is just dominating the shift. How are they doing it? Folio:‘s on the story, along with several others. Let’s take a look!
The New Yorker Is Attracting Digital Consumers in Droves
The New Yorker, which recently instituted a metered paywall, has seen web traffic increase 35% year over year, Folio: reports, and subscriptions are up 61%.
“Poynter reports that, in recent months, The New Yorker has tried several different approaches to lure a wider audience to its website without resorting to tactics that might dilute the quality of its content. These tactics include growing its copy desk to speed up the Web publishing process, adjusting its social media strategy and optimizing its stories for discovery by search engines like Google,” Jameson Doris writes.
“Moving forward though, Thompson explains that The New Yorker’s main strategy for growing audience will be to publish more, better stories.”
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Bauer Media Makes Digital-Only Moves
Bauer Media’s M and Twist will now be digital-only, Folio: reports.
“Alongside the announcement, Bauer reported that its Teen Network — which also includes Girls’ World and Animal Tales—has seen its online audience increase 175 percent over the last two years, from 2.9 million unique visitors to nearly 8 million,” Greg Dool writes.
Regional Magazines Publisher SagaCity Media Boasts New Acquistion
If you know us, you know we love regional and niche magazines, and SagaCity is a publisher that has seemingly perfected the formula. The company has now acquired Gulfshore Media brands Sarasota Magazine, Biz (941), SEE Sarasota, Sarasota Health, and Venice Magazine, Folio: reports.
“We all think it was a fair price for a highly profitable asset and we intend to ratchet up our return on investment by launching significant digital assets by January 2016,” SagaCity President Nicole Vogel tells Bill Mickey.
“Gulfshore group publisher Kelley Lavin, editorial director Pam Daniel and creative director Gigi Ortwein will remain on board after the deal. Vogel says that the rest of the employees will also stay and more positions will be added to the digital team,” Mickey writes. Adds Vogel: “We are also giving raises to about one-third of the staff to bring them to our Sagacity levels.”
Vance Publishing Is No More After Selling-Off Spree
B2B publishers and event producers Vance is no more with the sale of its assets to three different companies, Folio: reports. The purchasers are Farm Journal Media, Bobit Business Media, and CCI Media.
“By acquiring these top brands, we become market leaders in the important Produce sector, combine to become the leader in the Livestock sector and now have the leading voice to Ag Retailers, an area in which we have already heavily invested,” Farm Journal CEO Andy Weber said in a statement.
Are you drawing enough digital consumers to generate enough revenue? If not, download our free Organic Audience Development Strategy Handbook today!
To read more about digital consumers in the news, visit FolioMag.com.
