Friday, April 22, 2016
Targeting magazine content via social media
It is a given of magazine publishing that content must be aimed at a specific readership. This enduring truth has resulted in a healthy spread of titles that cater for everyone from aspiring bass guitar players to the chief financial officers of global corporations. Everyone subscribes to this fundamental principle, including me.
But what if, in an age of multiple platforms and fragmented social media, it's not true any more?
I spent an interesting afternoon listening to students on the MA International Journalism at Cardiff University presenting their ideas for new, pure-digital, magazine concepts. One called Planet Reboot was so full of energy and ideas that it leapt out of the screen – a bit messy, slightly hard work to navigate but fizzing with life and interest and contrasting story formats. I loved the concept but my conventional magazine self found fault with the targeting – looking at the website, it was not clear whose interest this electric, ecletic content was intended to capture.
But the students responded with an interesting point – the targeting would be done on social media. They would use Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest and other social media platforms to attract very specific demographic/psychographic groups to very specific stories.
Then one of my colleagues made another interesting point – the website at the heart of this concept would act as a content hub, a digital container that could hold an infinite amount of material related to Planet Reboot's mission to alert people to climate change and other environmental challenges.
We have known for the last 20-odd years that in cyberspace there is no limit on pagination but wearing the blinkers of specific targeting has limited the way magazines explore the possibilities that digital publishing offers.
The ideas in Planet Reboot apply to literally everyone on earth but a conventional magazine interpretation of it would limit both content and reach by aiming for a segment of "everyone". Weapons Of Reason, for example, is a lovely example of using the magazine form to analyse and discuss environmental issues but each iteration covers a specific problem and the project as a whole is aimed at a particular kind of reader (print oriented, solvent enough to pay £6 per issue, appreciative of the production values ...) – deliberately limited in order to increase the chances of success.
But by incorporating a core multiple-social-media (1) strategy into a digital magazine concept it becomes possible to outsource the targeting – it does not have to be built in to the central hub. The targeting can be exogamous rather than endogamous.
Of course the magazine still has to be about a particular thing – it's not a universal encyclopedia – but it can be about many different aspects of that thing and can encompass many different approaches for different audiences. If those who are brought to the content hub go on to explore it, great, if they find more content that appeals to them or which they can share with another, different, audience (perhaps their children or their parents) even better – but if they don't, their attention can be caught again through the agency of strategic layered social media targeting.
This concept might also appeal to adherents of COPE (Create Once Publish Everywhere) and could have the potential to attract a wider range of advertisers – the loss of specificity might be a drawback but there would be more types of consumer to target and a lot of social media activity to draw on.
1: The concept of polymedia outlined by Madianou and Miller is useful here.
But what if, in an age of multiple platforms and fragmented social media, it's not true any more?
I spent an interesting afternoon listening to students on the MA International Journalism at Cardiff University presenting their ideas for new, pure-digital, magazine concepts. One called Planet Reboot was so full of energy and ideas that it leapt out of the screen – a bit messy, slightly hard work to navigate but fizzing with life and interest and contrasting story formats. I loved the concept but my conventional magazine self found fault with the targeting – looking at the website, it was not clear whose interest this electric, ecletic content was intended to capture.
But the students responded with an interesting point – the targeting would be done on social media. They would use Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest and other social media platforms to attract very specific demographic/psychographic groups to very specific stories.
Then one of my colleagues made another interesting point – the website at the heart of this concept would act as a content hub, a digital container that could hold an infinite amount of material related to Planet Reboot's mission to alert people to climate change and other environmental challenges.
We have known for the last 20-odd years that in cyberspace there is no limit on pagination but wearing the blinkers of specific targeting has limited the way magazines explore the possibilities that digital publishing offers.
The ideas in Planet Reboot apply to literally everyone on earth but a conventional magazine interpretation of it would limit both content and reach by aiming for a segment of "everyone". Weapons Of Reason, for example, is a lovely example of using the magazine form to analyse and discuss environmental issues but each iteration covers a specific problem and the project as a whole is aimed at a particular kind of reader (print oriented, solvent enough to pay £6 per issue, appreciative of the production values ...) – deliberately limited in order to increase the chances of success.
But by incorporating a core multiple-social-media (1) strategy into a digital magazine concept it becomes possible to outsource the targeting – it does not have to be built in to the central hub. The targeting can be exogamous rather than endogamous.
Of course the magazine still has to be about a particular thing – it's not a universal encyclopedia – but it can be about many different aspects of that thing and can encompass many different approaches for different audiences. If those who are brought to the content hub go on to explore it, great, if they find more content that appeals to them or which they can share with another, different, audience (perhaps their children or their parents) even better – but if they don't, their attention can be caught again through the agency of strategic layered social media targeting.
This concept might also appeal to adherents of COPE (Create Once Publish Everywhere) and could have the potential to attract a wider range of advertisers – the loss of specificity might be a drawback but there would be more types of consumer to target and a lot of social media activity to draw on.
1: The concept of polymedia outlined by Madianou and Miller is useful here.
Labels: Cardiff School of Journalism, digital and social media, digital magazines, electronic magazines, magazines, social media
Friday, November 13, 2015
What does it mean to be a magazine on the web?
Disclosure: much of what follows is drawn from Kati Krause's presentation at Modern Magazine 2015. Justification: what Kati said resonated with lines of thought I have had over the past couple of years – you can probably find relevant posts in the archives of this blog.
What does it mean to be a magazine on the web?
What can digital media learn from magazines?
The questions are separate but closely connected as the answers feed into one another. To be a "digital magazine" at this point in history means being:
• mobile
• multiplatform
• unbundled
The first two points were amplified in another presentation at #ModMag15, when Scott Dadich and Billy Sorrentino (respectively Editor in Chief and Creative Director of Wired [US]) explained that the redesigned website was given a mobile-first priority and that writers/designers had to develop multiplatform skills whatever their background.
The third element is the most interesting in terms of magazine publishing philosophy – it's yet another manifestation of the "if you love something let it go" mantra. Kati's point was that apps or services that unbundle content from their original sources and re-bundle them in a proprietorial or quasi-proprietorial wrapper are an increasingly important way of finding that content – or having it delivered to you.
Furthermore, some of them can make that material better suited for reading online. Examples include Flipboard, which pushes "magazines" of curated material to subscribers, and Pocket, which "finds" articles for its subscribers to read immediately or squirrel away for later. I would add Medium to that list – it's not performing exactly the same aggregating/curatorial role as Flipboard or Pocket but given its open nature, it is doing exactly what a magazine does: collecting a variety of interesting content into a branded wrapper. If you are subscribed to that wrapper you can specify your particular interests and filter what you see and what is pushed out to you. Or you can jump into the deeps and explore whatever you like.
Kati Krause identified the four most important elements for magazines on the web to focus on:
Design
On a mobile screen this is probably going to be quite limited – designs start to look offputtingly busy very quickly. However, this is where Kati sees a service like Pocket offering an alternative, or even an extra; her contention is that Pocket improves the reading experience by re-rendering the content within its own wrapper. The result is a cleaner look and a calmer experience that encourages more considered reading.
Voice
Can also be considered as the magazine's brand – the essential qualities associated with a magazine that allow an immediately recognisable identity. Vice is an example that comes readily to mind but Kati also cited New York, Slate and Wired. Having a strong and distinctive voice allows a magazine to broaden its product range and business model.
A nice example of this that keeps cropping up when I listen to TalkSport is the Wired [UK] Out Of Office series of advertisements for Jaguar's new XF model. The radio ad presents the content of the web posting like a mini-feature, with a voiceover explaining what deputy editor Greg Williams has been up to.
Community
In digital media "community" is often restricted to the comments section – but a growing number of media brands are ditching comments because of the negative associations, trolling, etc. But Kati cited Rookie magazine as a publication that regularly calls on its readers for contributions – such as this call for submissions.
See also Everything Changes (part of The Awl) - editor invites responses from readers.
There is also a growing interest in the idea of co-creation, whereby the community of readers and the editorial staff become jointly responsible for making the magazine. There have been interesting scholarly articles on this by, amongst others, Aitamurto and Viliakainen & Toivonen.
Slowness
Digital media is immediate, instant, in your face. Kati believes magazines that find a way to slow down the reading experience and create thing that readers will want to keep will thrive. That "way" can take many forms, for example:
The Atavist – a magazine-like platform known for the very longform, multimedia stories it publishes. The very length ensures measured consumption of the content and the native multimedia allows pauses for different forms of consumption. In addition, material is available as free podcasts on iTunes or Soundcloud, which gives yet another leisurely mode of consumption. The underlying platform is also available for anyone to use to publish their own story – free for individuals or in tiered levels of subscription for commercial operations.
This American Life, which Kati characterises as being like an audio magazine. TAL's spinoff Serial has become legendarily successful, cited as the epitome of podcast revivalism – and with millions of people having downloaded each 50-odd minute episode it's certainly an example of how popular slow consumption can be.
correct!v.org – a community- and crowd-funded investigative journalism platform. The organisations investigations, which often originate in the forensic interrogation of big data sets, have been published in many different forms, including ebooks, bookzines, Atavist-like longform multimedia and a graphic novel. Journalism.co.uk ran an interview with founder David Schraven in September 2015; BBCnewslabs added their tuppence-worth in October 2015.
Lots of interesting ideas and development but in the end, as Kati concluded, the magazine on the web is still a fluid and chimerical concept.
Labels: cardiff maglab, digital magazines, electronic magazines, Kati Krause, magazines, Modern Magazine
Tuesday, October 22, 2013
Should magazine publishers follow the record companies?
Anyone old enough to have been buying music in the 1980s will remember that, almost overnight, vinyl LPs and singles disappeared from record shops, to be replaced by jewel-boxed CDs.
This did not just happen. It was, I seem to remember having read somewhere, a concerted and collaborative effort by the industry to rid the world of old-fashioned, expensive, delicate and somewhat craft-based records in favour of digital, cheaper, robust and industrially more efficient Compact Discs.
An article on the uptake of tablet magazines posted by Bo Sacks in his daily newsletter has made me wonder whether the magazine industry should follow suit.
Here's the paragraph that caught my attention:
Three years after Apple unveiled the iPad and revolutionized the way consumers interact with content, tablets still account for a tiny share of magazine readership-just 3.3 percent of total circulation. Not taking into account the top-selling digital title, Game Informer, which boasts nearly 3 million digital copies, the number slips to 2.3 percent.
Perhaps magazine publishers should follow the example of the record industry all those years ago. If there are no print magazines (vinyl LPs) to buy, people will be forced to buy tablet subscriptions (CDs) instead.
Of course, there would probably be a lot of unhappy newsagents and supermarkets, not to mention distributors, printers and paper companies, but it solves the problem at a stroke, does it not?
And it would allow us to really test all those ideas about how much people love their magazines and form social bonds with them, wouldn't it?
Labels: Apple, digital magazines, digital media, electronic magazines, iPad, John Menzies Digital, magazines, Magazines and E-zines, media economics, print magazines, W H Smith, Zinio
Thursday, April 05, 2012
Why Conde Nast, Hearst, Time Inc, Meredith and News Corp may be about to fail
Next Issue Media, an online store for magazines that challenges Apple's Newsstand, is about to launch.
It's a joint venture between Conde Nast, Hearst, Time Inc, Meredith and News Corp, so there's some serious firepower behind it, but an article in Forbes.com suggests that there may be some fundamental misunderstanding of the market.
In a piece entitled A Netflix For Digital Magazine Subscriptions. Will It Work?, Jeff Bercovici looks behind the scenes and asks CEO Morgan Guenther about the new service. One of the things Guenther says suggests the answer to Bercovici's rhetorical headline may be "No".
Guenther spouts the expected guff about innovation and customer benefits but – for me – gives the game away when he justifies launching with a fairly limited selection of top-selling titles from the group of publishers, titles from the 'short, fat part of the curve rather than the long-tail niche properties ... “These are the titles people care about,” he says. “They aren’t Arctic Birdwatching magazine.”'
If Guenther does not understand that (hypothetical) readers of Arctic Birdwatching are more likely to care passionately and deeply about their magazine than any given reader of a mass circulation title, then he simply does not understand magazines.
It's a classic mistake, one that nearly everyone outside the magazine industry makes.
The other thing Guenther and all the companies involved should be concerned about is the fact that Android users generally do not like to pay for stuff they see on their phones or tablets – that's why they buy Android-powered devices rather than an iPhone or iPad.
Labels: Android, digital magazines, digital revenue, distribution, iPad, iPhone
Friday, February 03, 2012
Quality as an online filter
Quality of content, says Jay Lauf, is the “third filter” for online content, after search and word of mouth.
Lauf has the credentials to make such a statement – he’s publisher of The Atlantic, the American magazine that specializes in long form, thought-provoking features, and architect of that title's online resurgence. Quoted in Ian Burrell’s piece for the Independent, Lauf says, “There are too many choices and quality outlets are becoming a filter.”
I would like to think he’s right and that this process is a “natural” factor in consumer choice as expressed in a capitalist economic system, though it would take a deal more research to stand up my half baked hunch (pace Stephen Johnson). Take the automobile industry as an example. In the very early days both demand and supply were limited – cars were massively expensive and few people were making them (parallel: not everyone had internet access and few publishers were online).
Then came an initial boom with a lot more manufacturers, reduced prices and a bigger market in which the sheer novelty of owning a car was more important than the quality of the car (parallel: a large number of consumers got internet access, publishers fell over themselves to capture eyeballs … and consumers also became producers thanks to Blogger, etc)
The global car industry has now had a massive shakedown and, for example, mass produced British cars have been relegated to the history books as consumers look for quality, reliability and value for money (parallel: online consumers have so much choice that it is impossible to check out everything, leading to social recommendation and the re-imposition of brands that guarantee quality).
As I said, it’s half-baked, it’s incomplete and it’s wildly oversimplified but it makes sense. And an important thing about quality, something that manufacturers from Rolls Royce to Rolex to Krug have known forever, is that people will pay for it.
Sounds like the start of a business model.
Lauf has the credentials to make such a statement – he’s publisher of The Atlantic, the American magazine that specializes in long form, thought-provoking features, and architect of that title's online resurgence. Quoted in Ian Burrell’s piece for the Independent, Lauf says, “There are too many choices and quality outlets are becoming a filter.”
I would like to think he’s right and that this process is a “natural” factor in consumer choice as expressed in a capitalist economic system, though it would take a deal more research to stand up my half baked hunch (pace Stephen Johnson). Take the automobile industry as an example. In the very early days both demand and supply were limited – cars were massively expensive and few people were making them (parallel: not everyone had internet access and few publishers were online).
Then came an initial boom with a lot more manufacturers, reduced prices and a bigger market in which the sheer novelty of owning a car was more important than the quality of the car (parallel: a large number of consumers got internet access, publishers fell over themselves to capture eyeballs … and consumers also became producers thanks to Blogger, etc)
The global car industry has now had a massive shakedown and, for example, mass produced British cars have been relegated to the history books as consumers look for quality, reliability and value for money (parallel: online consumers have so much choice that it is impossible to check out everything, leading to social recommendation and the re-imposition of brands that guarantee quality).
As I said, it’s half-baked, it’s incomplete and it’s wildly oversimplified but it makes sense. And an important thing about quality, something that manufacturers from Rolls Royce to Rolex to Krug have known forever, is that people will pay for it.
Sounds like the start of a business model.
Labels: Cardiff journalism, Cardiff Journalism School, Cardiff University, digital magazines, digital revenue, electronic magazines, magazines, print magazines
Wednesday, January 25, 2012
Boys and Business – this year's magazine trends
The Mag-Dragons have decided. This year’s two course magazines for the Cardiff MA will be for –
• boys in the 12-13 age range, focusing particularly on those who rush to their games console as soon as they get home from school
• young entrepreneurs starting up their own businesses
Both are really interesting ideas for a number of reasons.
A couple of days before students pitched to the Mag-Dragons I had a conversation with Nick Brett, Managing Director of the BBC Magazine Unit and Cardiff’s Honorary Professor of Magazine Journalism, about the current Holy Grails of magazine publishing – a title that captured the attention of teenage boys was one such for many years. Professor Brett’s response demonstrated how times have changed – he hadn’t heard a “holy grail” conversation for a long time; it’s all about capturing the digital space at the moment.
Without any prompting, the teen boy development group did something that combined former holy grail and current concerns – they proposed their title should be screen-first; that is, not primarily a print magazine. It sounds odd to admit it, considering how fervently we preach the digital message to our students, but this is a first for the Magazine MA. Naturally it will require some tweaking of the assessment schedule and criteria – and thought about how to incorporate some print elements that test their editorial and craft skills – but nothing that we cannot and should not do. In fact it is an inevitable and necessary development.
The business magazine is another first by virtue of being strictly business. Another odd admission, since we stress the B2B career pathway from the very first day of the course. This idea feels very zeitgeisty though and the winning pitch came on the same day that David Cameron launched Start Up Britain – something our on-the-ball students included in their presentation.
There’s still a massive amount of development and refinement to do on both titles but they are very exciting ideas. Each of the six groups pitching had individual development sessions with Professor Brett the Friday before the Mag-Dragon panel and at the end of next week the two amalgamated groups will present their research and development findings to Mel Nichols, former Editorial Director of Haymarket and, like Nick Brett, the over-seer of countless launches, relaunches and projects that didn’t quite make the grade.
I hope the students appreciate the level of access they are getting with these and the many other people who will help them during the Magazine MA – I don’t think I even saw anyone that high up until I’d been working at Emap for a couple of years!
• boys in the 12-13 age range, focusing particularly on those who rush to their games console as soon as they get home from school
• young entrepreneurs starting up their own businesses
Both are really interesting ideas for a number of reasons.
A couple of days before students pitched to the Mag-Dragons I had a conversation with Nick Brett, Managing Director of the BBC Magazine Unit and Cardiff’s Honorary Professor of Magazine Journalism, about the current Holy Grails of magazine publishing – a title that captured the attention of teenage boys was one such for many years. Professor Brett’s response demonstrated how times have changed – he hadn’t heard a “holy grail” conversation for a long time; it’s all about capturing the digital space at the moment.
Without any prompting, the teen boy development group did something that combined former holy grail and current concerns – they proposed their title should be screen-first; that is, not primarily a print magazine. It sounds odd to admit it, considering how fervently we preach the digital message to our students, but this is a first for the Magazine MA. Naturally it will require some tweaking of the assessment schedule and criteria – and thought about how to incorporate some print elements that test their editorial and craft skills – but nothing that we cannot and should not do. In fact it is an inevitable and necessary development.
The business magazine is another first by virtue of being strictly business. Another odd admission, since we stress the B2B career pathway from the very first day of the course. This idea feels very zeitgeisty though and the winning pitch came on the same day that David Cameron launched Start Up Britain – something our on-the-ball students included in their presentation.
There’s still a massive amount of development and refinement to do on both titles but they are very exciting ideas. Each of the six groups pitching had individual development sessions with Professor Brett the Friday before the Mag-Dragon panel and at the end of next week the two amalgamated groups will present their research and development findings to Mel Nichols, former Editorial Director of Haymarket and, like Nick Brett, the over-seer of countless launches, relaunches and projects that didn’t quite make the grade.
I hope the students appreciate the level of access they are getting with these and the many other people who will help them during the Magazine MA – I don’t think I even saw anyone that high up until I’d been working at Emap for a couple of years!
Labels: B2B, Cardiff School of Journalism, Cardiff University, digital magazines, magazines
Magazines as Brands (again)
On the very day I tell MA Magazine Journalism students about Brand Definition, Bauer make this anouncement:
• Clare Chamberlain has left Immediate Media, the lovechild of BBC Magazines and Magicalia, to take up a role at Bauer as Sales Director.
• Mark Frith, the guiding hand behind Heat for so long, has re-joined Bauer as an editorial director.
Bauer Media, the media group behind Grazia, FHM and Closer magazines, and radio stations Magic 105.4 and Kiss, is restructuring its commercial operations into platform-agnostic sales teams focused around individual brands. (via Media Week)
The move is not designed to reduce headcount, but instead aims to create commercial specialists who are able to knowledgably sell across a particular brand's integrated portfolio of digital, print and broadcast operations.There were a couple of other interesting snippets in the release too:
• Clare Chamberlain has left Immediate Media, the lovechild of BBC Magazines and Magicalia, to take up a role at Bauer as Sales Director.
• Mark Frith, the guiding hand behind Heat for so long, has re-joined Bauer as an editorial director.
Labels: Bauer, BBC magazines, digital magazines, digital revenue, magazines
Monday, December 05, 2011
The toybox as a toolbox
When I was much younger I had a wooden chest full of Meccano, the metal version with proper nuts and bolts; when my son was a bit younger he had a big box full of Lego, standard bricks and special kits all mixed up together.
In both cases we could build things, make structures that were stable or unstable, see how to fit pieces together to achieve a particular end – and learn about the physical world through play. The toybox became a toolbox without us even realising.
I got the same feeling watching our postgraduate Magazine students put together podcasts under the watchful eye of Broadcast tutor Emma Gilliam. The toybox was full of microphones, buttons, knobs, faders, flashing lights – all the paraphernalia of a radio studio control board. Under Emma’s practised eye the students built soundscapes that began to fit together into a structured whole; they adjusted bits that didn’t work and reinforced bits that did. Just like playing with Meccano and Lego, the words and voices and technology merged into a tremendous learning experience.
I loved being in the studio, listening and watching as Emma brought everything together. It was a great example of what we strive to do in the Cardiff postgraduate journalism courses – break down silos, work together and adapt the techniques of one medium to the needs of another.
But – and this was an uncomfortable thought – would we have been doing this if Rupert Murdoch hadn’t battered down the walls of trade union demarcation at Wapping?
In both cases we could build things, make structures that were stable or unstable, see how to fit pieces together to achieve a particular end – and learn about the physical world through play. The toybox became a toolbox without us even realising.
I got the same feeling watching our postgraduate Magazine students put together podcasts under the watchful eye of Broadcast tutor Emma Gilliam. The toybox was full of microphones, buttons, knobs, faders, flashing lights – all the paraphernalia of a radio studio control board. Under Emma’s practised eye the students built soundscapes that began to fit together into a structured whole; they adjusted bits that didn’t work and reinforced bits that did. Just like playing with Meccano and Lego, the words and voices and technology merged into a tremendous learning experience.
I loved being in the studio, listening and watching as Emma brought everything together. It was a great example of what we strive to do in the Cardiff postgraduate journalism courses – break down silos, work together and adapt the techniques of one medium to the needs of another.
But – and this was an uncomfortable thought – would we have been doing this if Rupert Murdoch hadn’t battered down the walls of trade union demarcation at Wapping?
Luckily I found an answer while reviving an old Palm m500 that had fallen out of favour. In the Wordsmith app I had written some extracts from the Penguin edition (1967) of The Communist Manifesto by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels. On page 222 they wrote:
In other words, if it hadn’t been Rupert, it was a historical inevitability that it would have been someone else.
Somehow, that made me feel better.
“The bourgeoisie cannot exist without constantly revolutionizing the instruments of production, and thereby the relations of production, and with them the whole relations of society.”
In other words, if it hadn’t been Rupert, it was a historical inevitability that it would have been someone else.
Somehow, that made me feel better.
Labels: digital magazines, magazines, multimedia, podcast
Friday, April 15, 2011
Magazine front covers: adapt or die
The front cover is the most important page in the magazines – that's one of the lessons we drum home to students on the MA/PgDip in Magazine Journalism at Cardiff Journalism School. It's a lesson that is repeated by just about every one of the many industry speakers who visit Cardiff.
But a couple of pieces of recent research show that it's only true for print magazines on the news-stand.
Kevin Sablan's Almighty Link site carried a piece about newspaper front pages that holds lessons for any print publication going online – or probably for any online journalism, whatever the "home" platform. Seven well considered points about what a "front page" means to online readers: The front page isn’t what it used to be
I found the piece above via Adam Tinworth's blog, introduced with the comment: "I've seen this clearly in our metrics. Front pages of websites just don't really matter." Given Adam's position as Editorial Development Manager at Reed Business Information we know those metrics are extensive and reliable.
Then, as if to confirm the line of thought, Ellie Behling asked "Are publishers paying attention to what consumers want from iPad magazines and newspapers?" on her blog. Analysing a recent survey, Behling quoted Zinio's global executive vice president and chief marketing officer Jeanniey Mullen: "It's not about necessarily just shopping for the cover anymore; you might be looking for fish recipes."
This doesn't mean our insistence on the importance of a front cover is wrong; in fact while single copy sales are under pressure – or falling – the front cover of a print magazine becomes even more important. But it does underline two points:
1) what has been found to work in print may not transfer directly to a digital platform
2) if the front page can be a Tweet, a Facebook stream, search engine results, a text message, a Flipboard panel, RSS feeds or an Instapaper collation magazines need to be showing their faces on all of them.
But a couple of pieces of recent research show that it's only true for print magazines on the news-stand.
Kevin Sablan's Almighty Link site carried a piece about newspaper front pages that holds lessons for any print publication going online – or probably for any online journalism, whatever the "home" platform. Seven well considered points about what a "front page" means to online readers: The front page isn’t what it used to be
I found the piece above via Adam Tinworth's blog, introduced with the comment: "I've seen this clearly in our metrics. Front pages of websites just don't really matter." Given Adam's position as Editorial Development Manager at Reed Business Information we know those metrics are extensive and reliable.
Then, as if to confirm the line of thought, Ellie Behling asked "Are publishers paying attention to what consumers want from iPad magazines and newspapers?" on her blog. Analysing a recent survey, Behling quoted Zinio's global executive vice president and chief marketing officer Jeanniey Mullen: "It's not about necessarily just shopping for the cover anymore; you might be looking for fish recipes."
This doesn't mean our insistence on the importance of a front cover is wrong; in fact while single copy sales are under pressure – or falling – the front cover of a print magazine becomes even more important. But it does underline two points:
1) what has been found to work in print may not transfer directly to a digital platform
2) if the front page can be a Tweet, a Facebook stream, search engine results, a text message, a Flipboard panel, RSS feeds or an Instapaper collation magazines need to be showing their faces on all of them.
Labels: Adam Tinworth, digital magazines, Flipboard, iPad, magazine craft, Reed Business Information, RSS feeds, Twitter, Zinio
Thursday, April 14, 2011
Magazine format could save newspapers
Ken Doctor, the Newsonomics guru, envisages a digital future for newspapers based firmly – it seems to me – on traditional magazine principles: niche specialisation –
What do you think?
"packages assembled with key target readers — by interest, of course, but also by age, gender, relative affluence, and more — in clear mind."He calls it the "digital cafeteria".
What do you think?
Labels: digital magazines, digital revenue, iPad, newspapers, tablet
Thursday, October 14, 2010
Success for Cardiff at Magazine Academy
Cardiff students from the Postgraduate Magazine Diploma won two major awards at Magazine Academy last night.
Our course magazine re:new took top prize in the New Digital Product Concept category. The website involved the whole re:new team but was steered to its prize-winning form by the hard work and dedication of Aimee Steen and Josie Allchin. Associate lecturer Simon Williams must also take a bow for his invaluable input and without Ruth Harrison, whose idea it was, there would have been no magazine.
This year's Magazine Academy saw a new award – the opportunity for shortlisted students to become editor of 100 Voices, a multimedia magazine launched by Redwood Publishing for Barclays Bank (catchline: "By students with more sense than money"). I am proud to say that, after a round of searching interviews, Angharad Jones is the first winner of this fantastic prize.
Our other course magazine, ivy, was also shortlisted – given the level of competition Magazine Academy inspires this is a major achievement in itself.
Perfect timing for the 40th Anniversary of the Centre for Journalism at Cardiff University.
Our course magazine re:new took top prize in the New Digital Product Concept category. The website involved the whole re:new team but was steered to its prize-winning form by the hard work and dedication of Aimee Steen and Josie Allchin. Associate lecturer Simon Williams must also take a bow for his invaluable input and without Ruth Harrison, whose idea it was, there would have been no magazine.
This year's Magazine Academy saw a new award – the opportunity for shortlisted students to become editor of 100 Voices, a multimedia magazine launched by Redwood Publishing for Barclays Bank (catchline: "By students with more sense than money"). I am proud to say that, after a round of searching interviews, Angharad Jones is the first winner of this fantastic prize.
Our other course magazine, ivy, was also shortlisted – given the level of competition Magazine Academy inspires this is a major achievement in itself.
Perfect timing for the 40th Anniversary of the Centre for Journalism at Cardiff University.
 |
| Josie Allchin, Aimee Steen, Ruth Harrison and Angharad Jones at the Magazine Academy awards in Vinopolis |
Labels: Cardiff Journalism School, digital magazines, Magazine Academy
Wednesday, October 13, 2010
A new "metaphor" for magazines: 2
Lo and behold, another voice adding to the debate about reinventing media forms and formats for new platforms – but Steve Smith also considers the possibility of rediscovering formats that have been tried before.
After the App Frenzy... A New Medium
After the App Frenzy... A New Medium
Labels: digital magazines, iPad, magazines
Tuesday, October 12, 2010
A new "metaphor" for magazines
The ever-reliable Mindy McAdams has posted about the need for news organisations, and magazines, to come up with something utterly new for the new tablet-based platform(s) that are beginning to wash around us (see the @Yelvington post that inspired Mindy).
I mention this because there's something in the air around metaphors and the way we read or interact with things. (David Hepworth has also been thinking about magazines on the iPad and in Zinio.)
I don't have an answer. I'm not even sure I know what questions to ask but my model is radio. Radio survived talkies and the telly and the internet and now seems to be getting a whole new lease of life via digital broadcasting/narrowcasting. Think Last.fm and Spotify – the power to "broadcast" has shifted from the corporation/dj to the consumer. What's the equivalent in magazine terms?
I mention this because there's something in the air around metaphors and the way we read or interact with things. (David Hepworth has also been thinking about magazines on the iPad and in Zinio.)
I don't have an answer. I'm not even sure I know what questions to ask but my model is radio. Radio survived talkies and the telly and the internet and now seems to be getting a whole new lease of life via digital broadcasting/narrowcasting. Think Last.fm and Spotify – the power to "broadcast" has shifted from the corporation/dj to the consumer. What's the equivalent in magazine terms?
Labels: appazine, development, digital magazines, iPad, magazines
Friday, July 23, 2010
In future all magazines will be digital ... and print
Some interesting thoughts from new PPA Chairman Barry McIlheney.
In this interview with Meg Carter from InPublishing he shares his views on print and digital, as well as outlining plans for a revitalised Periodical Publishers Association.
Mr Magazine (aka Professor Samir Husni of the Magazine Innovation Center might like to consider McIlheney's definition of a magazine:
"It's not just about saying magazines are great, but promoting high quality editorial content with a magazine heritage delivered across any platform. It sounds a mouthful, but I'm talking about the unique mix of words and pictures and the relationship with the consumer that 'magazine' means, and that’s a mix that doesn't just have to be delivered via paper and ink."
The magazine industry has gone beyond the old debate about whether you are a magazine or a digital enthusiast, he adds, and as an organisation, the PPA must similarly raise its game.
PPA members will increasingly rely less on print - already the case for many B2B publishers, he readily concedes. But he doesn't see that will necessarily be the future for everyone. "One size does not fit all," he says. "Gradually over time other platforms grow, but there will always be fantastic products provided in print."
Types of launches may change. The old FMCG-style multi million pound TV and print launch extravaganza for a print-only product is probably not now the way forward. But we will see more launches, and we will see print-led offerings across multiple platforms. Because the starting point, irrespective of platform, remains the same: a really clever idea that will turn people on by appealing to their passions. And while there will be a growing need for technical people within publishing, there will still be a strong need for people with journalistic skills, creative ideas, flair, spark and - of course - consumer understanding." McIlheney adds that he will be watching closely uptake of the iPad which, he thinks, presents "a fantastic opportunity" for PPA members.
All quotes taken from: http://www.inpublishing.co.uk/kb/articles/barry_mcilheney_interview.aspx
For the record, this is Professor Husni's take on the subject: http://mrmagazine.wordpress.com/2010/06/25/what-is-a-magazine-really-the-debate-goes-on/
Labels: development, digital magazines, electronic magazines, magazines, Periodical Publishers Association
Friday, July 16, 2010
Virgin to launch Maverick magazine on iPad
Richard Branson's Virgin empire is never slow to jump on a bandwagon and now it is hopping aboard the iPad with a new magazine in app form. (I feel a neologism coming on – appazine?)
Maverick is due to launch later this year. Overseen by Holly Branson (relative) it "will aim to encapsulate the spirit of the Virgin brand by focusing on entrepreneurial endeavors and highlighting new creative, business, travel and technology ideas, targeting an upscale international audience" according to the first report in AdAge. The mix of content will put it into contention with "Fast Company and WIRED", says Mashable.
But there is a bit of magazine grit in the froth – Anthony Noguera, former editor of Arena and FHM, will be involved on the editorial side through his business Accelerated Intelligence and Seven Squared will supply the tech input for the app, which may be rolled out for other platforms such as Android and whatever else powers the tidal wave of tablets bearing down on us.
As you might expect with Branson, there's a sharp business angle. Whereas publishers with print products are loth to undercut them with their app versions, Virgin has nothing to lose and should be able to produce Maverick for a lower cost than its rivals.
There is also speculation that Virgin will use this opportunity to expand into magazine publishing more generally, with some commentators saying that Branson wants to compete with Bauer and IPC. Hmm, anyone for Virgin Cola?
Image via Wikipedia
Maverick is due to launch later this year. Overseen by Holly Branson (relative) it "will aim to encapsulate the spirit of the Virgin brand by focusing on entrepreneurial endeavors and highlighting new creative, business, travel and technology ideas, targeting an upscale international audience" according to the first report in AdAge. The mix of content will put it into contention with "Fast Company and WIRED", says Mashable.
But there is a bit of magazine grit in the froth – Anthony Noguera, former editor of Arena and FHM, will be involved on the editorial side through his business Accelerated Intelligence and Seven Squared will supply the tech input for the app, which may be rolled out for other platforms such as Android and whatever else powers the tidal wave of tablets bearing down on us.
As you might expect with Branson, there's a sharp business angle. Whereas publishers with print products are loth to undercut them with their app versions, Virgin has nothing to lose and should be able to produce Maverick for a lower cost than its rivals.
There is also speculation that Virgin will use this opportunity to expand into magazine publishing more generally, with some commentators saying that Branson wants to compete with Bauer and IPC. Hmm, anyone for Virgin Cola?
Image via WikipediaLabels: appazine, digital magazines, digital revenue, electronic magazines, iPad
Wednesday, May 05, 2010
Magazine Flash – Apple iPad vs Android tablets
I can't vouch for any of this but if it's true then the apps war for magazines will really hot up. Could be back to a Betamax vs VHS situation.
http://zedomax.com/blog/2010/05/04/android-multi-touch-tablet-prototype-hands-on-review-web-2-0-expo/
http://zedomax.com/blog/2010/05/04/android-multi-touch-tablet-prototype-hands-on-review-web-2-0-expo/
Labels: Android, Apple, digital magazines, digital revenue, Flash, iPad
Friday, April 30, 2010
Magazines, Publishers, iPad, Flash – update
Does this article by James McQuivey (an analyst at Forrester Research) from PaidContent – which specifically refers to the plans of magazine publishers – throw light, heat or both on the subject?
In relation to Paul Lomax's tweet in my last post, I especially like this bit:
In relation to Paul Lomax's tweet in my last post, I especially like this bit:
Apple is handing them a way to justify charging for content. And they like this very, very much. In fact, one publisher came dangerously close to scrapping Flash development altogether (before his internal tech experts talked him out of it) because he realized that in the end, Apple is handing them something the Web never has: a controlled, curated content environment where people pay for content, albeit in the form of software calls apps.
Labels: Apple, digital magazines, distribution, electronic magazines, Flash, HTML5, iTunes iPhone
Android vs Apple for digital magazine futures
Anyone tickled by Paul Lomax reporting from the iPad/digital future of magazines session at yesterday's PPA Conference:
might like to have a look at this article by Mark Sigal, in which he draws comparisons between iPhone/Android and Mac/PC.
There's also a slew of stuff emerging about Flash vs HTML5: http://slashdot.org/story/10/04/30/1037230/Microsoft-Tips-the-Scale-In-Favor-of-HTML-5
http://www.appleinsider.com/articles/10/04/30/head_of_microsofts_internet_explorer_says_html5_is_the_future.html
PaulLomax: #PPA Consensus from panel (zinio, meredith/nextissuemedia,wired) is that iPad will not be market leader; Others supporting flash will win... - yesterday
might like to have a look at this article by Mark Sigal, in which he draws comparisons between iPhone/Android and Mac/PC.
There's also a slew of stuff emerging about Flash vs HTML5: http://slashdot.org/story/10/04/30/1037230/Microsoft-Tips-the-Scale-In-Favor-of-HTML-5
http://www.appleinsider.com/articles/10/04/30/head_of_microsofts_internet_explorer_says_html5_is_the_future.html
Labels: Android, Apple, digital magazines, digital revenue, Flash, HTML5, iPad, iPhone, Periodical Publishers Association
Monday, March 08, 2010
University researchers call for "Habermassian convention" in magazine websites
If you've got past the headline above, welcome.
In fact, this post is really an elaborate way of linking to the Columbia Journalism Review's survey of magazines and their websites in the USA.
The findings are really worth looking at, at least in summary form, the standouts for me concerning:
Staffing:
Technology:
Mission:
The conclusions are a bit lame, however, focusing on the need for codes of conduct, the adoption of aforementioned Habermassian conventions and why previous attempts to "standardise" blogs and social media have failed.
Umm ... has someone missed the rather large point here?
Read more for yourself:
http://onlinejournalismblog.com/2010/03/06/summary-of-magazines-and-their-websites-columbia-journalism-review-study-by-victor-navasky-and-evan-lerner/comment-page-1/
Jurgen Habermas
In fact, this post is really an elaborate way of linking to the Columbia Journalism Review's survey of magazines and their websites in the USA.
The findings are really worth looking at, at least in summary form, the standouts for me concerning:
Staffing:
The researchers found decision making on the website to be the single most important factor in how its website functions.
Most websites were staffed by people who primarily worked on the print editions, and less than a quarter of staff were hired with web experience (29 per cent).
Independent web editors were the only decision makers in the most profitable websites, and the higher a magazine’s circulation and monthly web traffic, the more likely it was to have an independent web editor making budget and content decisions.
Technology:
The researchers found most magazines are not keeping pace with mobile display and interactivity technology.
Less than one in five are designed for smartphones and very few are formatted for e-book readers (4 per cent).
Again, web sites are more likely to have multiple display options when independent web editors are in charge of budget or content decisions.
Mission:
Most editors said their website and their print magazine shared a common mission.
16 per cent of respondents said their Web site’s mission involved community-building with readers.
Interestingly, only 5 per cent mentioned new or unique content as integral to the site’s mission, with 96 per cent reporting the primary use of content from the print magazine online.
The conclusions are a bit lame, however, focusing on the need for codes of conduct, the adoption of aforementioned Habermassian conventions and why previous attempts to "standardise" blogs and social media have failed.
Umm ... has someone missed the rather large point here?
Read more for yourself:
http://onlinejournalismblog.com/2010/03/06/summary-of-magazines-and-their-websites-columbia-journalism-review-study-by-victor-navasky-and-evan-lerner/comment-page-1/
Jurgen Habermas
Labels: academic-industry-research, digital magazines, electronic magazines, print magazines
Friday, January 29, 2010
iPad: fourth thought
In what may, or may not, be the last of these post-launch reflections on the Apple iPad, here is some information gathered by Steve Smith of Mobile Insider.
Smith interviewed a number of industry figures and came to the conclusion that :
![Reblog this post [with Zemanta]](http://img.zemanta.com/reblog_e.png?x-id=d5b118a2-4351-42e6-ad4e-2ad3d2c618b6)
Smith interviewed a number of industry figures and came to the conclusion that :
More than anything, this is a media consumption device. I am actually fairly shocked at how little this device is informed by person-to-person communication and interactivity. It is really a lean-back device. With a keypad that is going to be a challenge under any scenario and no camera for video-blogging, the iPad doesn't even have some of the basic blogging and posting tools Apple encourages on its Mac platform.
But Dan Flanegan of BrandinHand says this is exactly the in-between device that finalizes his shift of media consumption from analog to digital. "The iPad completes my content consumption transformation," he says. "To this point my iPhone and MacBook Pro have pulled me away from traditional broadcast entertainment and news. The iPad completes this, giving me a place for books, magazines, newspapers right alongside a better experience for TV and movies."
Flanegan is a true believer that this is the beginning of the end of paper. "I can see how my kids will consume media in their lifetime. Goodbye newsprint, annoying business reply card inserts and six-inch thick Stephen King novels. Hello, content anywhere! What took you so long?"
Read the whole article on the Media Post site.
Labels: digital magazines, digital revenue, electronic magazines, iPad, political economy
