Digital Magazines 2009 — Supplement to Folio - (Page 9) aspect of a magazine,” he says, “is that it is a complete package that has been curated by an editor and an editorial staff and has a voice that readers come to love. It has pacing and rhythm from cover to cover. And it has been laid out in an effective, two-page spread convention that has been optimized over decades—even centuries—to become a tremendous information delivery device for a subject of great interest to that reader.” New Opportunity Web sites have plenty of advantages, but they don’t share those qualities or those advantages in terms of reader involvement or advertiser interest. Digital editions, however, offer an opportunity for publishers, as indicated by the growth in that segment of the industry reported in 2008 by The Gilbane Group in its report, “Digital Magazine and Newspaper Editions, Growth, Trends and Best Practices.” For example, the number of audited b-to-b publications reporting digital editions grew 215 percent (from 107 to 230) and the number of digital subscriptions grew 222 percent (from 773,194 to 1.7 million) over the two-year period 2005-2007. The penetration of digital subs grew from 13.3 percent to 15.0 percent. The number of audited consumer publications reporting digital replica editions grew 224 percent and the number of digital subscriptions grew 143 percent over the same period, RBI’S CIRCULATION PENETRATION REMAINS STEADY ERIC RUTTER, vice president audience marketing at Reed Business Information-U.S., is responsible for the audience-development efforts of about 35 b-to-b magazines, most of which have digital editions. The digital circulation penetration for the group of magazines (excluding Housing Giants, which converted last year to an all-digital format) averages about 15 percent. RBI began digital editions in 2003, when it was an all-new delivery approach, and Rutter believes that the digital platform has now reached a certain level of maturity. “Digital has been around long enough for our circulation base to be exposed to it and know what it’s about,” he says. “Our readers [mostly in the U.S.] choose their preferred format, print or digital. Some see the benefits of digital and love it. Others would prefer to continue to receive the magazine in the print format. Demographically, though, the characteristics of digital subscribers are pretty much the same as those who choose print.” For some magazines, international readers may only subscribe to the digital edition. To attract subscribers to the digital edition, Rutter’s team tries conversion efforts, asking people to switch from print to digital. In addition, the online subscriber qualification form has a new “Go green, go digital!” promotion that highlights some of the benefits of choosing the environmentally friendly digital format—the ability to search current and past issues, speedy delivery, and reducing one’s carbon footprint. While Rutter has to be pleased that the average digital circulation of the stable of RBI’s magazines is right in line with the industry average for b-to-b magazines, he hasn’t really set benchmarks for digital circulation penetration. “It goes where it goes,” he says. “What matters most is that we deliver the magazine in the format preferred by our readers.” -J.Z. 2005-2007. Combining the two sets of results, the growth in publications offering digital subscriptions was 217 percent over the period, and growth of digital subscriptions was 195 percent. The percentage of audited titles with audited digital editions grew from 3.2 percent to 6.9 percent, indicating a huge window for future growth. Based on that data and other trends studied by the Gilbane researchers, they projected last spring that the total number of publications offering digital editions (both audited and unaudited) would grow from 3,286 in 2007 to approximately 8,000 at the end of 2009—247 percent growth for the two year period 2007-2009; and, based on 2007 penetration rates, the number of digital subscriptions would grow from nearly 13.5 million to approximately 31.5 million—236 percent growth for the period. Clearly, digital has its fans. On the consumer side, computertechnology magazines do quite well, as do the men’s interest, hobby/special interest, and men’s active categories. Travel 7
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