As Predicted: iPad Magazine Subscriber Numbers Plummeting
from the gee,-who-woulda-thunk-it dept
Right before the iPad launched, we warned media companies that expected iPad apps to be their savior that they were making a mistake. Specifically, it seemed that this was all wishful thinking from publishers, who were hoping to go back to a gated system that they had used for many years. They were betting on restrictions, which is never a good bet. Of course, the early numbers actually sounded good, with many magazines trumpeting how many iPad subscribers they got in the first few months. But, it appears that many people tested out iPad magazines, and then decided they just weren't worth it. Again, this is not a huge surprise. Just a few weeks ago, we again discussed how iPad magazines generally suck, and it was unlikely they were going to have lasting success.Even so, it's still surprising to see just how dramatic the dropoff has been -- especially in a platform that is apparently still selling like hotcakes. Wired Magazine, which initially appeared to drink the Kool-Aid big time on using iPad apps, now sees less than a quarter the number of buyers that it had when it put out its first iPad issue. Vanity Fair, Glamour, GQ and some others have all seen big declines.
Hopefully this will kill off the dream of just recreating magazines for the iPad, and content providers can focus on creating tools that are actually useful, rather than just on replicating the structure of a magazine in a digital format.
Thank you for reading this Techdirt post. With so many things competing for everyone’s attention these days, we really appreciate you giving us your time. We work hard every day to put quality content out there for our community.
Techdirt is one of the few remaining truly independent media outlets. We do not have a giant corporation behind us, and we rely heavily on our community to support us, in an age when advertisers are increasingly uninterested in sponsoring small, independent sites — especially a site like ours that is unwilling to pull punches in its reporting and analysis.
While other websites have resorted to paywalls, registration requirements, and increasingly annoying/intrusive advertising, we have always kept Techdirt open and available to anyone. But in order to continue doing so, we need your support. We offer a variety of ways for our readers to support us, from direct donations to special subscriptions and cool merchandise — and every little bit helps. Thank you.
–The Techdirt Team
Filed Under: ipad, magazines, media, savior, subscriptions
Reader Comments
Subscribe: RSS
View by: Time | Thread
Thoughts on eMagazines
1. Developing an iPad eBook (e-Magazine) on a monthly basis is more difficult than most people thought, and the technical specs/understanding hasn't been fully hammered out yet when it comes to advertisers and media buyers.
2. The entire core audience doesn't yet own an iPad or tablet PC.
When you make a venn diagram of challenge #2, you can see that many traditional magazine outlets will have a challenge of adoption. How many people do you know that subscribe to "Better Homes and Gardens" that also have an iPad?
So it makes sense to wait until there are a few more formidable competitors to the space. It's not an overnight thing. In particular an Adobe-Air based publishing platform holds a lot of promise because it's similar enough to InDesign and Flash (Layout folks will be able to adopt the tools easier.)
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Thoughts on eMagazines
A cross-platform 'magazine' would solve this; and what better than the web.
So many 'Apps' could of easily been instead developed as a web-based application, simply optimised for mobile browsing and enjoy users from any device.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re: Thoughts on eMagazines
Cross-platform would be nice, but it's just as important as an inexpensive platform. I just can't see granny spending her Social Security Check to get her AARP articles delivered on an iPad.... yet. The price would have to come down.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Thoughts on eMagazines
The issue is this, I think: If I buy a song, it's because I intend to listen to it more than once. If I buy a book, it is because I intend to read it more than once. If I buy a movie, it is because I intend to watch it more than once. When I buy a magazine on a shelf, I spend money because I know that it costs money to get that magazine to the shelf for me, *not* because I intend to read it more than once. So, for a digital magazine, there is no distribution costs. In fact, because I need an internet connection, *I* have to pay to get it to me. So, why would I pay them to allow me to pay to get the digital magazine (that I'm only going to read once) to me? Hint: I'm not.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re: Thoughts on eMagazines
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Movie of the week...
> at the beginning, are you suggesting that the hurdles
> are getting more and more difficult?
For a monthly publication, those hurdles have to be jumped over on a monthly basis.
It's possible "hurdling" at that frequency isn't all that it's cracked up to be.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re: Thoughts on eMagazines
In my mind, an eMagazine must, at minimum, provide verbatim content as the print version for it to displace print subscriptions. Also, if Apple is going to keep Adobe out of its walled garden or provide publishing platform tools to develop on, it won't ever be seen as a viable alternative to the publisher. Now, Apple could remedy this by creating its own publishing tools on-par with InDesign or even Quark with import capabilities of InDesign files.
Here's the thing. If I was a publisher, and had to make a choice of publishing 1M print magazines OR 10k digital magazines and I realize I would have to hire two teams to perform editing, layout, and design to hit monthly deadlines, I would probably say "hasta luego" to the digital platform until it costs proportionately per copy to the print medium to develop on. It's basic economics.
Until the customer is satisfied (declining subscriptions indicate dissatisfaction), the ad revenue won't be there, content will be kept to a minimum due to the high development costs, and eMagazines will be seen as a "diet-version" of the print version. Without the tools to displace print publishing, it simply won't displace print publishing. But who knows, this may very well be Apple's long term goal-- to not displace print publishing until others are able to catch up.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Price
Wrong!
You have to price it LESS than the subscription price.
And, not the list price for subscription, but the lowest price.
For example: Time.
I pay 26 cents/issue to have the paper version delivered to my mailbox.
So, I am not likely to pay MORE to get it on my iPad.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Price
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Every try out one of those "free" magazine subscription?
Many people took them up on the free issues and then canceled as soon as the trial period was up, or shortly after that, because the customers eventually realized that the money they were being charged was not worth the content they were receiving.
What a bunch of morons...
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Mashable on iPad magazine sales
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
The digital version had better be significantly cheaper because I do not need to pay for printing and shipping costs.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: yes, but
Not that it's an original thought, but flipboard, and products like it, seem to have a better vision for the future of magazine-like publishing than the incumbents do.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
The 'Front Door' problem
Even those magazine that I do subscribe to, I never read every article in them. They are more useful to me when their content is accessible from many entry points and aggregation sites.
By transitioning to an app-format publication, these publishers are making the assumption that I consider them my starting point.
Personally, I would prefer to see a (I know, dreaming...) micropayment network that would allow me to access my content on multiple devices and via multiple aggregators (including RSS feeds with Netvibes/Google Reader).
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: The 'Front Door' problem
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
The Real Question
Why the &*$$##? would I pay for it? I can get the same information on the web for free.
If you want me to pay, or even just register (yes, you, WSJ and Economist) well then I guess I can find the same information somewhere for free thatnks to Google. If your information is so priceless(??) that I WANT to read it on your site, then I sure hope your reporters/writers are being paid handsomely!
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Nokia N8 Contract Deals � Go for Over the Age Technology
I will are available back again to examine for new posts.
http://www.luxuryupdates.com/2010/12/30/nokia-n8-contract-deals-%E2%80%93-go-for-over-the-ag e-technology/
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Newpapers are in an even worse position
General circulation newspapers that had been hopping for salvation in subscription apps lack a lot of what the magazines have going for them. Even most local papers have very little local content. As we have discussed before, local newspapers have decreases local reporting and used more and more filler material from syndicates or fluffy and cheap human interest pieces. At one time they had good local classifieds, but now you can find most of that on local craigslists. In short, most newspapers don't have much left to sell. Again, there may be hope in building local communities. However, I doubt that newspapers can give up their old ways in the manner that is needed to build them. It is possible that local communities could be build just as well by local TV and Radio stations or even unexpected source.
Some national publications do have some things like columnists that people will pay to read. The propblem the national newspapers have is that they are charging prices based on the assumption that consumers are willing to pay for all of the content they put out, and they are grossly over charging. They also have week attempts to build communities.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Yay!!
Well, what did you expect?
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
I also think that after the initial "wahoo" moment, many people living in the big city commuting probably realized it wasn't a very good idea to hang their spendy pad computer out there, advertising that they have it. Reading the dead tree version makes way more sense.
It's one of those deals where the old fashioned way works better.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re:
If I was a publisher, I'd have this perspective:
When Apple gave me iPad, and now wants me to rejigger how you I do business and alienate an entire existing business channel. You know, this isn't exactly the best way to make long term partnerships. In fact, he looks for competitors, and where there are none, I actually think he creates them.
http://www.techeye.net/chips/jobs-dumps-jen-hsun-for-otellini
Keep an eye on Android.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re:
Apple is certainly "our way or the highway" mentality, and while that boosted them from near death cult status to a major player, it is also what likely keeps them in their niche.
The Ipad could be this generation's Apple Liza.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
How could iPad be better than dead tree ?
if you actually look at the dead tree experience, and ask "how could iPad be better than this" you end up with either
- sensible stuff (cross links to articles in this or previous issues, or better use of hyperlinks to replace "inset panels" to make reading flow better)
- hype and nonsense ("make it interactive" whatever that means) which miss the point that sometimes people want to just consume without interacting.
Advertisers, though, should be salivating. A video ad with a click through to be sent more details while you carry on reading the magazine ? Ads that can feedback WHO turned on the volume for this particular vid. Targeted live ads (this guy likes car ads a lot but hates drug company ads).
And yet unlike the web, the guy's not sat at a computer - he's in relaxed mag reading mode.
I'd have said that the real innovation that would make the iPad compelling should be coming from the advertisers, not the main content presenters.
But regards pricing, there should be a single subscription and you get all formats.
I get the economist by subscription, and I consume about half on a sat am with breakfast (dead tree), and half as MP3 while walking the dog. The latter REALLY adds value for me, but if I had to pay separately I might not.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
"They were betting on arbitrary and artificial restrictions, which is never a good bet."
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re:
Hey Happy New Year, Fish.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]