Forget everything we know and love about physical magazines. Forget their length. Forget their size. Forget their weekly or monthly publishing schedule. Forget all these qualities except for one: What it’s like to come to an end, and to take a deep breath.

Like Newsweek, almost all magazines will eventually go purely electronic. This shouldn’t surprise anyone. Already, nearly 40% of tablet owners read digital newspapers or magazines, with nearly 10% doing so daily. Still, as I watch this shift, I can’t help but feel a twinge of nostalgia. Not for the paper, but for the boundaries.

I miss the edges — physical and psychological. I miss the start of reading a print magazine, but mostly, I miss the finish. I miss the satisfaction of putting the bundle down, knowing I have gotten through it all. Nothing left. On to the next thing.

Newsweek ending print edition, job cuts expected

It may seem strange to think about printed publications as having a “user experience.” But they do, of course. Print is a technology as much as desktop computers and tablets are technology. One of the qualities most natural to the user experience of print is the sense of potential completion, defined by the physical edges. It is a quality that is wholly unnatural to digital formats.

The digital reading experience makes one want to connect and expand outward. Print calls for limit and containment.

Ted Nelson, who invented the term “hypertext” in 1963, also coined another word: Intertwingularity. Describing it, he said, “In an important sense there are no ‘subjects’ at all; there is only all knowledge, since the cross-connections among the myriad topics of this world simply cannot be divided up neatly.” Later, he added, “Hierarchical and sequential structures, especially popular since Gutenberg, are usually forced and artificial.”

The digital landscape is the perfect playground for actualizing the intertwingular, since the same information can be referenced in an endless number of locations, can be remixed freely, and need not abide by any single hierarchy.

It is this intertwingularity that can make navigating digital content so stressful.

While a stack of printed back issues of National Geographic may seem intimidating, it is not unapproachable. The magazines may be dense, but you know where you stand as you read them. But what about staring at an empty search box leading into the deep archive of nationalgeographic.com?

Petrifying. Boundless. Like standing on the edge of a giant reservoir in the dead of the night, looking down into its infinite blackness. Link after related link keeps pushing you along until, suddenly, you may end up reading about polar bears on an entirely different website, and maybe you haven’t been up for air in hours.

Magazine websites, like the World Wide Web itself, open one up to continuous exploration through links and related content. There’s beauty in that, if one is up for total immersion. But it’s easier to become overwhelmed, or lost.

Linda Stone created the term “e-mail apnea” to describe holding your breath as you traverse the horrors of your inbox. I find myself experiencing digital apnea of all sorts. Google News apnea. Twitter apnea. Facebook newsfeed apnea. RSS reader apnea. In the face of endless content streams, it’s hard to stop and take a breath.

There is no print apnea. Perhaps, at worst, one may experience library apnea — standing before the vast greatness of the reading room in the British Museum, for example. But even then, it’s different. There’s the cozy smell of old books and the softness of the aged pages. It’s more akin to basking in grandeur than to suffocating under information overload. It’s hard to feel the same reverence for our 24/7 Twitter feeds.

The question “How deep does it go?” is one that that nobody had to ask the printed edition of Newsweek. Newsweek.com? It’s not so clear. It’s why we love “Most Popular” and “Most E-mailed” lists — they bring some relief of edges to the digital page.

As more of our content consumption shifts digital, the onus lies on tablet and smartphone applications to find a way to create cleaner and more bite-sized forms of boundaries in a medium that doesn’t want to be contained.

At the start of 2013, Newsweek joins the legions of other digital-only publishers. We’re losing the paper, the touch and the romanticism of the printed object. But hopefully, we’ll find a way to create new edges.

The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of Craig Mod.

BY BILL MICKEY (www.audiencedevelopment.com)

A key metric set that’s determining whether marketers buy ads in tablets is performance. App subscribers and downloads are nice—as long as the numbers are separated from print readers—but advertisers are looking for engagement-related metrics that prove readers are actually interacting with the product and the branding therein.

Consumer research firm GfK MRI released new research that’s showing fairly high interaction rates among readers with ads in tablets and e-readers.

At a basic level, 55 percent of magazine readers at least read an ad—and among those, 52 percent take some kind of action.

The research conducted by GfK MRI included 30,000 digital ads within 1,000 magazine issues. Of those ads, about 14,000 contained an interactive feature.

Readers are most likely to touch or click an ad to expand it, with 38 percent doing so, according to the report. Close behind that metric is the 34 percent of readers who accessed a brand’s website through the ad.

And while almost every interaction hovered around the one-third benchmark (31 percent watched a video, 30 percent viewed a gallery, 30 percent downloaded an app), social media interactivity came in at 24 percent—highlighting once again a reader’s wariness of mixing advertising with social engagement.

The research was performed by GfK’s Starch Digital service, which now tracks tablet and e-reader ad metrics across 45 consumer magazines.

Those engagement numbers come out as other studies show that advertising is growing across magazine brand platforms. Recent research highlighted by the MPA shows a 57 percent growth rate in the number of brands advertised since tablets were launched two years ago.

BY T.J. RAPHAEL (www.audiencedevelopment.com)

As the media landscape continues to change, a circulator’s obligation to continue to grow a publication’s reach does not. In an effort to meet the challenges of the industry head on, speakers at the Fulfillment Management Association’s primary annual meeting, shared top strategies in the session.

Panelist Roy Beagley, director of publishing services for Tyson Associates; Mark Walter, consumer marketing director with American Express Publishing; and Peter Winn, director of planning and development with Bonnier, presented avenues for growing audience and customer bases through the digital and social realms as well as traditional mediums.

Platform Agnostic Opportunities


1. Price Expressions—Test per-issue pricing instead of full price. For example, try saying the deal is  $1 per issue instead of $12 for a year. This is something that could be even more useful for weeklies. Consumers are getting used to seeing per-issue pricing thanks to tablet stores.

2. QR Codes—They may not look good, but Beagley says there has been a 100 percent increase in usage year-over-year, and it’s getting better. Give instructions on using the code and explain what happens when they do—remember most people need to be guided.

3. Credit Card Collection—Walter recommends testing credit card payment options at the time of an order in every new business channel—provide a bonus offer if readers pay with a credit card. Consumers are more used to it than in the past and this can assist with renewals.

4. Two Years for the Price of One—Beagley says two years for the price of one almost always works. Premiums usually work because people love free offers.

5. Database Examination—Winn says that all sources need to be included in your database—digital, print, ancillary products, etc. This can help to improve new business efforts and secure renewals. Examining the database provides for smarter mail and email to be sent more efficiently, as well as improved cross promotion.

Circulation Channels


6. Partnering with Agents—Publishers should work with agents to test new programs. American Express Publishing’s Food & Wine magazine, for example, partnered with magazines.com—there was a subscription offer plus downloadable premium test conducted by the site.

7. Related Websites—Beyond looking for agents, consider websites that fit into your wheelhouse. On a website that sells school uniforms, Parenting ran banner ads that gave consumers a subscription to the magazine if they spent $30 or more on a uniform—11 issues for a value of $9.99.

8. Engagement—By seeking the opinion of customers, providing them exclusive offers, identifying longer-term subscribers and learning from past promotion problems a circulator can create engagement, which enhances and captures loyalty to a brand.

9. Retailers—By working with retailers, you can get your magazine in the hands of valued customers. Walter says to work with retailers and wholesalers on promotions that drive sales by offering coupons or cross promotions with other brands on sale in the store. Shoppers saved $4.00 when purchasing the book 1,000 Places To See Before You Die AND Travel + Leisure. Barnes & Noble liked the campaign so much it extended its life beyond the initial terms.

10. Newsstand—Work with editors to make your covers work hard—use strong images and cover lines, rooflines, digits in cover lines and call-out bursts and buttons. Think beyond selling subscriptions to brand recognition, which could lead to a customer down the road.

BY T.J. RAPHAEL (www.audiencedevelopment.com)

For many magazines, the majority of online traffic is derived from a key aspect of the publishing business: e-newsletters.

Smooth delivery, opens and click-throughs are a perennial priority, one that Thrillist has built its business around. The company’s foundation is a free, subscriber-based e-mail newsletter business, delivering localized content on restaurants, nightlife and retail outlets for urban 20-and-30-something men. The brand has about 3 million daily subscribers and projected 2012 revenues are in the range of $60 million.

Here, Thrillist’s John Wiseman, the company’s vice president of marketing and partnerships, delivers six tips to boosting the bread-and-butter of the e-newsletter business: open rates.

1. Building Sustained Readership 
“A key component is great content—without it, people will probably not even open the first email. Our editorial team consistently seeks out and shapes stories that are timely and deliver fresh content that is actionable and entertaining.”

2. Subject Lines
 “You have to have amazing subject lines. You do this by being timely and speaking to what’s current. You can use context that is out in the world that can directly or obliquely speak to what the core of your business is. You should also use a dash of mystery. One of the subject lines we’ve used in tests is ‘Get Your Mind Blown.’ Readers wonder what that means, and it makes them want to open it. When they open it, you connect the subject line to the content. Inside, we have ‘Find The Most Mind Blowing Restaurants in Your Neighborhood With Thrillist.’”

3. Imagery
 “We include amazing photography. Images can connect the subject line with the content, while using that dash of mystery in order to get people in. One tricky part of that is with the ascendency of mobile—you need to have quick loading emails, and a content distribution network that will deliver your images quickly.”

4. Device Compatibility
 “You need to make sure that your email looks good in a variety of different browsers, and with mobile. We’re working on a mobile-first priority in terms of how our emails render. The ratio of people reading Thrillist on iOS devices has gone up over 800 percent in the last 12 months.”

5. A/B Testing
 “We can do some really interesting things with our email provider, like a 10/10/80 split. About 10 percent gets one subject line, another 10 percent gets a different subject line, and whichever one wins within the first half hour, then the winningest subject line goes out to the remaining 80 percent. It’s helped us to understand which type of subject lines have performed over time.”

6. Traffic Sources
 “It’s important to examine where your subscribers are coming from. Segmenting them can be very helpful in reaching each different segment. Focus on the sources that bring good, engaged people rather than generating a huge audience that may or may not read.”

Giving brands a big screen on which to reach mobile consumers, tablets have officially reached a critical mass in the United States. As comScore reports, one in every four smartphone owners — i.e., connected, higher-income consumers — reported using tablets during the three-month average period ending April 2012.

“Tablets are one of the most rapidly adopted consumer technologies in history and are poised to fundamentally disrupt the way people engage with the digital world both on-the-go and perhaps most notably, in the home,” said Mark Donovan, comScore SVP, mobile.

“It’s not surprising to see that once consumers get their hands on their first tablet, they are using them for any number of media habits, including TV viewing,” he adds.

The study also found that tablet users were nearly three times more likely to watch video on their devices compared to smartphone users, with one in every 10 tablet users viewing video content almost daily on their device.

Remarkably, in just two years since the launch of the iPad — the first tablet to reach a meaningful market penetration — tablet adoption has exploded.

As Donovan notes, the surge has been supported by the introduction of new devices that appeal to various price and feature preferences. In April, 16.5% of mobile phone subscribers reported using a tablet, representing an increase of 11.8 percentage points in the past year.

Growth in market penetration was even more apparent among the smartphone population, with nearly one in four using a tablet device in April — an increase of 13.9 percentage points in the past year. A lower 10.4% of feature phone owners use a tablet, suggesting that smartphone ownership is highly predictive of tablet adoption in the current market.

A demographic analysis of mobile device audiences indicated that tablet and smartphone audiences closely resemble one another in terms of gender composition, with tablet users just slightly more likely to be female than smartphone users.

However, the age composition of audiences showed that tablet users skewed noticeably older than smartphone users. For both devices, the heaviest overall audience concentration was between the ages of 25 and 44. Compared to smartphone owners, tablet users were 28% more likely to be in the 65-and-older age segment, and 27% less likely to be age 18-24.

Tablet users also skewed toward upper-income households — likely a function of the high price point of these devices, still considered a luxury good to many consumers. Indeed, nearly three in five tablet users resided in households with incomes of $75,000 or greater, compared to one in every two smartphone users.

Introduction: online video has always been an important way for brands to communicate, target and grow

The need for video in direct business strategies has grown significantly as media owners and business-to-consumer brands are focused on putting video on their website(s), online catalogues and branded You Tube channels. Video streaming quality is now much more consistent, accounting for 30 percent of internet traffic and according to Cisco this is set to rise by 90 percent in 2014. Therefore, using video content that is relevant and evocative for a viewer can become a significant part of any businesses strategy (whether B2B or B2C) and can help to target and improve audience response rates and acquisition campaigns. However, in digital magazines, video that is integrated alongside articles has proven to be successful in increasing subscription conversion rates and advertising revenue. Furthermore, those publishers who are using their apps as channels for commercial video messages (as well as a platform for content distribution) are more likely to build brand recognition and acknowledgement with an audience.

The benefits of using video on the digital platform

Many publishers find that a digital business model which uses a replica of their original print content but also harvests opportunities to add additional video and rich media (picture galleries, audio files etc.) is successful in ensuring digital readers are not disappointed with the “interactive” experience that is often promoted as an alternative to their print editions. In digital publishing, it’s about turning static printed collateral such as flat PDF magazine pages into rich media and *video* enhanced versions for the iPad and other platforms (Android, Kindle Fire etc.) As publishers grapple with a content package that now includes print, digital, online they need to find a content strategy that works effectively on multi-platforms without de-valuing their free web content or alienating their print editions. This is where video can be a functional tool for publishers who want to monetize on the extra content that their digital editions provide, whilst engaging and retaining their audience with additional interactivity.

Easily finding video content to use

Large archives of images or original video content can be a huge asset for publishers who are looking to grow their audience – and their ad revenues. It is important to note that advertisers are turning to digital; especially as part of a package campaign (print, digital, online etc.) as they realize that cross platform shopping experiences can utilize a brand’s influence. However, for those specialist publishers who don’t have their own original video content, there are stacks of specialist video content on YouTube and all videos are copyright free as long as you don’t put it behind a pay-wall (for website purposes). In the same way, most advertisers will have free video content that publishers should include to increase ad click-throughs and e-commerce opportunities for the future.

No such thing as a one-size–fits-all approach

When publishers curate their digital content they should look to their magazine’s brand identity to find out the best approach to the amount of video and rich media they should put in their digital editions. Those publishers with multi-channel content can take full advantage of the possibilities on the digital platform. For example, those publishers with automotive or fashion based publications are bound to have extra video content that they can monetize easily. We only have to look to attitude magazine as an example:

Attitude improved subscription conversion rates and audience retention by choosing a dynamic approach to video

• Video covers help to promote celebrity endorsements and exclusives and set attitude apart from other digital editions and have become much of the unique selling point (USP) to attitude’s apps’ success powered by MagazineCloner’s Custom Build technology.

• Audio and video advertisements illustrate the month’s top film and music recommendations and push users to sample before buying.

Readers can play the music video ‘Electra Heart’ by Marina and the Diamonds and watch a film trailer for Spiderman.

A study by Yahoo found that consumers were twice as likely to watch a video when the video was featured next to or as part of an article. Integrating video within your magazine’s digital pages may be an effective way of adding context to direct video messages, thus making them more ‘watchable’ and audience recall rates higher.

• Extra video content from backstage photo shoots & fashion shows can be monetized easily and the ‘exclusive’ factor of content like this gives users a bigger incentive to download the app as it is adding value to the reader by adding additional editorial content for a similar, if not smaller cost.

• Video has proven to add consumer value and a competitive market performance to apps. Advertising and sponsorship revenue will increase if brands feel their marketing messages can be channeled in the most effective way possible, i.e. through video. This is something for publishers to think about in the future when using their app editions to bring an advertiser’s propositions to life.

Content for print and mobile platforms, specialist magazine and print budget planning and execution, editorial project management, editing and general all-purpose problem solving

Once upon a time

… there was a girl with a love for writing and wordplay and the wonderful world of glossy magazines. Then she discovered that there was so much more she could do – budget planning and management, project planning and execution, HR and people management. Before she knew it, she’d become a multi-tasking working mother, seamlessly juggling big budgets and big magazine egos for twelve years before taking the giant leap into freestyle self-employment.

Where is she now?

When she’s not wearing the hat of Consumer Project Manager for FAIRLADY magazine, she’s writing features for magazines, editing and managing print and online projects for a diverse group of clients and generally, having a blast doing what she loves, all while managing to squeeze tuckshop duty and playdates into the rotation.

Brag Book

Successfully creating and managing the multi-million rand editorial operational budgets for FAIRLADY magazine for five years, successfully launching the FAIRLADY Consumer Awards in 2010 and growing them every year since, and migrating the FAIRLADY Best of Beauty Awards to a slick online platform.

Qualifications

BA (Hons) in Drama, Higher Diploma in Journalism from Rhodes University, Eastern Cape

Nomadic Marketing, Graduate School of Business, University of Cape Town

Business Focused Project Management, Graduate School of Business, University of Cape Town

It’s easy to forget that these are still early days for digital publishing. It was only two years ago that Apple unveiled the iPad. Yet, the device – and other tablets and e-readers like it – has dramatically altered the media landscape. At The Economist, our readers increasingly want to access the publication on their tablets. In two years, more than half of our readers expect to consume The Economist digitally.

Given these realities, it’s crucial that we in the industry agree on standard definitions and metrics to accurately capture the impact of tablets on publishing. Last week, the Association of Magazine Media (MPA)’s Tablet Metrics Task Force did just this by announcing voluntary guidelines that give publishers a better way to measure their digital subscriptions. The uniform metrics also provide advertisers with a clear look into the value of digital magazine advertising.

The five initial tablet metrics recommended by the MPA are:

- Total consumer paid digital issues: includes both paid annual subscriptions and paid single issues

- Total number of tablet readers per issue: the number of issues opened by individual devices

- Total number of sessions per issue: the number of times an issue was opened

- Total amount of time spent per reader per issue: the total amount of time a reader spends on each issue

- Average number of sessions per reader per issue: the average number of times each reader accessed the issue

The Economist is glad to see a standardization of terms and data for digital subscriptions. As tablet readership grows, the next step for our industry should be to develop consistent ways of measuring reader engagement with ads. With the digital analytics that tablets provide, we can assess advertisement clickthroughs, stickiness and even the percentage of readers who take action after viewing an ad. These metrics will give advertisers a deeper understanding of the enormous potential of tablet advertising.

Nina Link, who is president and chief executive of the Association of Magazine Media, has said “tablet technology is creating an incredible opportunity for magazine media to grow and reach new audiences.” I agree. In two short years, The Economist has capitalized on the dynamic and immersive tablet experience. In the years to come, we hope to see the publishing and advertising industries continue to harness this technology. The new guidelines are just the start of that journey.