As electronic devices and e-books proliferate, proactive printers are finding ways to leverage these electronic newcomers.

By Erik Cagle

Magazines in an E-reader World

There’s no lack of excitement regarding the changes that are taking place in the magazine and catalog sectors. Ironically, you might need an app to keep track of the ongoing projects by publishers looking to bridge magazine readers to digital offerings—be they newsletters, electronic versions of the publication or unique content contained on Web sites.

Here’s a small sample of recent publisher announcements and publication trends:

• Time Inc., the largest publisher in the world, struck a deal with Apple to make its iPad application free for magazine subscribers to download and enjoy digital content. Time’s goal is to provide digital content to paid magazines subscribers across all of its titles.

• A study conducted by publisher Bonnier and ad agency CP&B revealed that readers have a tough time focusing when viewing the iPad editions of magazines. The study groups included heavy printed magazine readers, frequent iPad users and recurring consumers of magazine content on the Internet. The interactivity of the iPad led the study groups in different directions. When readers picked up a printed magazine, they did so for a specific purpose.

• The iPad is not quite reader-friendly when it comes to magazine subscriptions. According to a study by The New York Times, one of the biggest disappointments with iPad apps is the lack of a subscription option. Readers are finding that magazine apps are costing about as much as the hard copy publication itself. Nor are they happy to be limited to single-issue purchases for the electronic version.

• Advertisements in the iPad edition of Sports Illustrated generated 21 percent higher recall than its print brethren, according to a study by Affinity Vista. Reader-action scores—the tracking of actions such as visits to advertisers’ Web sites or gaining a more favorable opinion of advertiser’s brands—were 34 percent higher for the iPad users than print readers.

• Barnes & Noble (B&N) is reporting robust magazine and newspaper sales at its NookNewsstand since shipping the NookColor, with more than 650,000 total subscriptions and single-copy sales. B&N offers nearly 100 magazine titles.

• Last summer Quad/Graphics rolled out branded applications that allow magazines, catalogs and retail advertising to be published for the iPad, iPhone and iPod Touch, courtesy of the Quad/Graphics Digital Edition Platform. The solution enables Quad’s clients to distribute content by print and mail, digital editions and branded Apple apps. Many leading publication printers offer publishers solutions for creating electronic versions of their magazines, such as RR Donnelley’s DigiMag.

Fact of the matter is, printing has been under attack almost from the moment that Johannes Gutenberg kicked off the moveable type printing era in the 15th century. Radio, television, the Internet, the George Foreman grill—all the revolutions of the past 100 years—have threatened to steal away print's market share. While each revolution has been met with an evolution of print, the current wave of electronic devices—e-readers, smart phones, tablets—threatens to provide the stiffest test yet, and harvest the greatest market share.

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E-books: Doom or Opportunity?

E-books:  Doom or Opportunity?