Magazines: Print vs Digital
As we rise into the digital age where a flick of a page is replaced by a swipe of the finger, the publishing industry - as we know it - is dying to the traditional mind. People are going head over heels and strutting around their platforms of digital publishing but its safe we are in limbo of a diabolical state as we lie in a neither here nor there situation when it comes to the future of our print magazines.
Our options for reading our favorite glossy magazine are endless. I could pick up Vogue from my local newsstand carry it around all day, or I could simply load it up on my iPhone but it is without a doubt that the magazine newsstand is swiftly becoming archaic with 503 of our sleek, handcrafted titles suffering plummeting sales in 2013 (Ponsford, 2014).
Print has strung from being the chosen medium for advertising since the early 2000s and provided a backbone for print media revenue (Stam, D., and Scott, A., p 58), but as the years progressed, so did the development of the digital age. The digital platform provides a buffer to some of our favorite magazines titles keeping their brand name floating as the industry diminishes. But what really are the issues when it comes to diving into digital?
Advertisers are still going about adapting their business models for the digital market as are the set-ups for different devices are being reformatted which adds to a magazines work load (Johnson & Prijatel, p. 29).
A main challenge for magazines is discovering relevance for their publication across the digital platform. There seems to be no right or wrong answer when it comes to printing titles in digital forms and magazines need a digital strategy to create relevance whether its user entertainment, cleverly articulated digital processes or user-friendly immediacy of the publication (Johnson & Prijatel, p. 25). This is an opportunity in itself for magazines. They can take advantage of the digital abilities and transform their publication into interactive entertainments including videos, audio, photo effects and animations. These drive readers to the publication and avoid them searching for the information elsewhere.
Another challenge for digital magazines can include the actual process of creating revenue from digital sales, as open access is a massive competitor. Free online content can be found and readers will begin to resort to the Internet rather than pay for magazine content (Reeves, 2014). This again can be over-come by creating interactive experiences. Many opportunities are available for digital magazines. A magazine known as ‘The Atlantic’ was the first magazine to earn more ad revenue via its online content than print in 2011 (Johnson & Prijatel, p. 28) by changes their magazine relevance.
The future for magazine publishers is unclear but somewhat predictable, with tablet sales soaring and the introduction of magazine apps is emerging (Johnson & Prijatel, p. 43). It is deemed that digital editions are truly the saviors of our favorite magazine titles to the point of declining sales figures with digital sales almost doubling year on year keeping our titles in the charts (Ponsford, 2013).
Magazines face a number of opportunities and challenges but it is down to how the publishers shape business strategies in order to overcome and compete.
Word Count: 535
Bibliography
· Johnson, S. & Prijatel, P. 2013. The New Magazine from Cover to Cover. New York: Oxford University Press. Pp. 25-43
· Ponsford, D., (2014) UK Lose Print Magazine Sales, [online] http://www.pressgazette.co.uk/uk-magazines-lose-print-sales-average-63-cent-full-abc-breakdown-all-503-titles, [Accessed: 3/10/2014]
· Ponsford, D., (2013) Mag ABCs: Digital ABC Sales, [online], http://www.pressgazette.co.uk/mag-abcs-digital-edition-sales-nearly-double-year-year-just-under-300000, [Accessed: 3/10/2014]
· Reeves, L. 2014. Magazine and Newspapers in the Digital Age [Year 2 Lecture] 18 November 2014
· Stam, D., and Scott, A., (2014) Inside Book Publishing, Page 58, Published: Routledge 2014
Our options for reading our favorite glossy magazine are endless. I could pick up Vogue from my local newsstand carry it around all day, or I could simply load it up on my iPhone but it is without a doubt that the magazine newsstand is swiftly becoming archaic with 503 of our sleek, handcrafted titles suffering plummeting sales in 2013 (Ponsford, 2014).
Print has strung from being the chosen medium for advertising since the early 2000s and provided a backbone for print media revenue (Stam, D., and Scott, A., p 58), but as the years progressed, so did the development of the digital age. The digital platform provides a buffer to some of our favorite magazines titles keeping their brand name floating as the industry diminishes. But what really are the issues when it comes to diving into digital?
Advertisers are still going about adapting their business models for the digital market as are the set-ups for different devices are being reformatted which adds to a magazines work load (Johnson & Prijatel, p. 29).
A main challenge for magazines is discovering relevance for their publication across the digital platform. There seems to be no right or wrong answer when it comes to printing titles in digital forms and magazines need a digital strategy to create relevance whether its user entertainment, cleverly articulated digital processes or user-friendly immediacy of the publication (Johnson & Prijatel, p. 25). This is an opportunity in itself for magazines. They can take advantage of the digital abilities and transform their publication into interactive entertainments including videos, audio, photo effects and animations. These drive readers to the publication and avoid them searching for the information elsewhere.
Another challenge for digital magazines can include the actual process of creating revenue from digital sales, as open access is a massive competitor. Free online content can be found and readers will begin to resort to the Internet rather than pay for magazine content (Reeves, 2014). This again can be over-come by creating interactive experiences. Many opportunities are available for digital magazines. A magazine known as ‘The Atlantic’ was the first magazine to earn more ad revenue via its online content than print in 2011 (Johnson & Prijatel, p. 28) by changes their magazine relevance.
The future for magazine publishers is unclear but somewhat predictable, with tablet sales soaring and the introduction of magazine apps is emerging (Johnson & Prijatel, p. 43). It is deemed that digital editions are truly the saviors of our favorite magazine titles to the point of declining sales figures with digital sales almost doubling year on year keeping our titles in the charts (Ponsford, 2013).
Magazines face a number of opportunities and challenges but it is down to how the publishers shape business strategies in order to overcome and compete.
Word Count: 535
Bibliography
· Johnson, S. & Prijatel, P. 2013. The New Magazine from Cover to Cover. New York: Oxford University Press. Pp. 25-43
· Ponsford, D., (2014) UK Lose Print Magazine Sales, [online] http://www.pressgazette.co.uk/uk-magazines-lose-print-sales-average-63-cent-full-abc-breakdown-all-503-titles, [Accessed: 3/10/2014]
· Ponsford, D., (2013) Mag ABCs: Digital ABC Sales, [online], http://www.pressgazette.co.uk/mag-abcs-digital-edition-sales-nearly-double-year-year-just-under-300000, [Accessed: 3/10/2014]
· Reeves, L. 2014. Magazine and Newspapers in the Digital Age [Year 2 Lecture] 18 November 2014
· Stam, D., and Scott, A., (2014) Inside Book Publishing, Page 58, Published: Routledge 2014