Tag Archives: Magazines

#mms12: Lessons for consumer publishers from Immediate Media

At today’s Mobile Media Strategies conference, Rebekah Billingsley, mobile publisher, Immediate Media, explained how the publisher, which was formed in November 2011 after a merger of BBC Worldwide magazines, Origin Publishing and Magicalia, has become the “second largest publisher of digital magazines”, based on Immediate’s own tally, with more than 1.3 million downloads to date and 16 apps downloaded every second.

Immediate Media launched its first magazine app in 2010 when it released Focus, later following with Good Food, which is now the “highest rated magazine app in Newsstand”.

When Apple’s Newsstand launched in October 2011 “sales quadrupled overnight”, Billingsley said. The same month as Newsstand launched, Immediate Media launched its History Magazine to Kindle.

And the previous year it started releasing ‘bookazines’, single editions with a long shelf-life. Two years on and the publisher aims to launch three bookezines a month and “every month they are making more and more money”, Billingsley told delegates.

Today 48 per cent of Immediate’s revenue from Apple comes from outside the UK and monthly PDF revenues have grown 500 per cent since launch.

“Be prepared to be surprised,” Billingsley urged delegates.

She had thought consumers would only opt for “enhanced, fully interactive models”. But recent ABC figures show “four out of the top 10 sellers are PDF replicas”.

Billingsley was also surprised by the numbers reading magazines on their phones, with 10 per cent of magazines bought via Zinio read on phones.

“Launching our titles gave us access to data in lots of countries,” Billingsley said, explaining they are now planning the roadmap based on actual data.

Billingsley warned:

Don’t just assume on behalf of your consumers. It’s new to them as well.

One thing Immediate did in order to convince advertisers of the value of the new app products was to hire 20 iPads and send them to media planners and also equipped sales teams with the devices.

And Billingsley’s advice for consumer publishers considering apps?

As long as you are using cost-effective technology and testing you can try new things.

She also encouraged the repackaging of existing content.

Her final words of advice were to “watch your competitors, better still take them to lunch”.

#GEN2012: Netizine ‘turns magazines into social networks’

A new HTML5-based service that aims to “connect” magazine readers – allowing them to share, recommend and comment on what they’re reading with like-minded people – has been showcased at the News World Summit in Paris.

Netizine is in invited beta mode at the moment and aims to “turn magazines into social networks”, building communities around content and bring interactivity to magazine pages.

Readers interested in the same subject can chat about articles on the page itself and join groups around specific topics. Editorial teams would also be able to connect with readers in real time.

Magazines can be personalised and bookmarked to read offline – and Facebook and Twitter are integrated directly into each page.

There’s a video explaining more about the service on the Netizine website.

paidContent: Seven more tablet titles on the horizon at Nomad Editions

paidContent reports that Nomad Editions, a US company which aims to produce magazines for tablet subscriptions, has more than half a dozen titles “in the pipeline”

In an interview with paidContent, Nomad Editions’ CEO Mark Edmiston, former president of Newsweek, claims 50 per cent of those taking subscriptions for existing titles are taking out a whole year.

Nomad is trying to prove that tablets can be platforms for new as well as existing brands. Rather than convert existing titles to tablet, it taps journalists to devise new titles along with it, with an interesting new model – for pay, each editor takes five percent of subscription income, whilst writers split 30 percent between them.

Read more here…

PPA extends magazine awards deadline

The PPA has announced it has extended the deadline for entries to its magazine awards this year, due to “the high volume of requests” for an extension.

The date has been pushed back by a week, from Friday this week to Friday 25 February. But this will be it, PPA said – no more extensions will be granted.

The awards cover 22 categories including consumer magazine of the year, editorial campaign of the year and writer of the year.

Read more here…

PPA changes name to reflect ‘increasing variety’ among membership

The PPA announced a name change today to acknowledge the increasing use of a variety of platforms by its members.

The PPA, which previously stood for Periodical Publishers Association will now be called the Professional Publishers Association. In a release Barry McIlheney, chief executive of the PPA said:

Today’s PPA members are professional publishers of immersive, high-quality content. In recent years their businesses have changed dramatically as they deliver this content across an increasing variety of platforms.

We have changed our name to acknowledge this development, and to reflect our commitment to serving our members’ needs and representing their interests as their businesses continue to evolve.

Digital revenue helping magazine publisher Future get back on track

Increases in customer publishing and digital revenue have helped magazine publisher Future get “back on track”, according to the company’s preliminary results for the year ending 30 September.

In the report, published today, Future claims that its overall revenues have declined by 1 per cent on last year, with net debt reduced by more than 50 per cent.

The publisher adds that its US business has returned to profit while customer publishing revenue has grown by 43 per cent in the last 12 months.

Advertising revenues declined by five per cent overall, but individually online advertising (which makes up 25 per cent of the advertising revenues) rose by eight per cent.

In the report Stevie Spring, Future’s chief executive said the results show the publisher is back on track.

We’ve returned our US business to profit – a key goal for the year. And made good progress against our strategic priorities – adapting and investing in our business to meet the needs of a rapidly changing content landscape.

Consumer confidence is still fragile on both sides of the Atlantic, so our outlook for 2011 must remain cautious even though we’ve seen an encouraging 5 per cent growth in the second half of 2010.

MEN Media to launch new free business weekly

Manchester Evening News Media announced today that it will launch a new free weekly business magazine called ‘Business Week’.

Earlier this year the city lost a weekly business title after Crain Communication’s Manchester Business closed three years after launch.

The new publication from MEN Media, which includes an accompanying website, will be launched on Thursday 25 November, targeting “key decision makers in Greater Manchester”, a press release says.

The creation of the magazine has introduced two new editorial roles to the company.

How Conde Nast is dealing with iPad advertisers

An interesting post on Rob O’Regan’s blog looking at how Conde Nast has developed best practice guidelines for advertisers who want to work on its iPad apps. To create the guidance for clients, the magazine publisher has been conducting extensive research on how readers are using and rating the apps:

To learn more about these early adopters, Conde Nast is combining its in-app and in-person research with usage software built into its apps. Results from the in-app survey showed that 80 per cent of users who downloaded a Conde Nast digital magazine app said the content and experience “met or surpassed their expectations”, and 83 per cent said they were likely to purchase the next month’s edition.

Full story on emediavitals at this link…

Sample of Bauer Media’s new men’s mag out today

Bauer Media has announced that the pilot issue of its new men’s magazine, Gaz7etta, will be available from today. More than 500,000 copies are being distributed within magazines including Q and Empire, newspapers such as Metro and City AM and other partnerships.

This one-off issue of Gaz7etta provides successful men with a unique combination of the key news stories of the week and all the latest lifestyle trends and products. Gaz7etta’s mission is to identify, decode and contextualise the key stories that are driving the world they live and work in.

How Do: Excel Publishing plans expansion to 32 regions in England

Independent business publisher Excel Publishing will launch new regional digital editions and e-newsletters in 32 English cities and regions, according to How Do.

The expansion will take Excel beyond its north west roots, where it is best known as the publisher of monthly business magazine EN, says the report.

Full story on How Do at this link…