There has been a lot of buzz lately about digital magazines and the role they play in the magazine publishing industry’s struggle to find a viable web business model. Digital magazines are cool. They are a page-for-page online reproduction of a print publication but also allow readers to “turn pages” while taking full advantage of basic web technologies including the ability to embed video and provide links to advertisers’ websites. There are several companies offering this technology including Zinio and NxtBook. The products offered by these companies certainly deliver what is promised by offering an attractive and easy-to-use online version of a print product. But, are they the solution publishers are looking for when they talk about online versions of their magazines?
The answer is that they are not. Content should be viewed across the spectrum of its time value. A printed monthly magazine, for instance, should contain content that is timely and relevant during and possibly beyond its cover date. But print media is not the place for late-breaking news or information or for rapid updates to previously published material. The costs and time to update printed material are both high. But, the web is the ideal medium in which to post rapidly changing content. It is flexible, inexpensive to update, and is not limited by space, time, or cost restraints. So therefore, one must question what is truly being gained by publishing an online duplicate of a printed publication.
The issue, therefore, is not about content or technology, it is about branding. Content should be branded under one name. In most cases, think of your magazine’s title as the brand and increase that brand’s value by utilizing all of the forms of media available to you to deliver content in the most time-valuable way. An online version of your magazine should contain information and material that is not available in the print version because of the time value of that material. Utilize your print product to provide more in-depth and analytical content, the time value of which extends further into the future. Think of content as being on a time-line and publish time sensitive material on the web and content with a longer shelf life in print. A true online version of your magazine will enhance the magazine’s brand while delivering different content to a broader audience than is receiving the printed and mailed version. That is when you will be able to see the fullest benefits of producing an online version of your magazine.
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I could not agree more with this post. Having only an exact copy of your print product in digital form is really not adding anything of value for your readers, and very little for your advertisers. Often the page-turning software forces readers to either view an entire page at a size that is too small to read, or view part of a page or image at a size that is readable but is not practical. This is not an enjoyable, inviting reader experience. Only a truly multimedia online presence that complements your print product -- and delivers content in ways that readers actually want and will use -- will benefit the readers and the advertisers.
ReplyDeleteYes...and the problem appears to be that many publishers view digital magazines as a low cost way of creating an online presence for their magazine. They can claim that they have an online version without considering the strategic implications that should go into developing a true online content-driven product.
ReplyDeleteWe are looking at producing a digital version of our bimonthly magazine to extend its reach and adding an online presence that does not exist right now. I see your points about the digital version not being user-friendly, but we have a problem with getting the magazine in people's hands. And building a web site for the magazine is costly. We are moving our newspaper online because of timeliness of news. Our goals are different for the digital version of the magazine.
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