The Future of the Magazine, Susan Krashinsky, Globe and Mail (Dec 17)
Magazines are suffering from reduced readership, reduced revenues, and generally more competition from the Internet. In response some are trying new digital tricks - such as Esquire's "augmented reality".
"Magazines are hardly leaping out at media buyers these days. The industry has been walloped by falling sales: In the first nine months of 2009, magazine ad pages in the U.S. dropped 27 per cent from the same period last year, and revenues were down 20 per cent, according to the Publishers Information Bureau. The Canadian magazine industry fared slightly better, but ad pages still dropped 21 per cent from January to September of this year, according to Nielsen LNA."
The future seems linked to e-readers.
"Last week, five of the largest magazine publishers in the U.S. announced they were joining forces to create a “digital storefront” to make it easier for consumers to buy issues of their magazines for download onto laptop computers, smart phones and e-readers. The venture includes Condé Nast, Meredith Corp., News Corp., Time Inc. and Hearst Corp., which publishes Esquire. As part of the announcement, Time Warner's magazine Sports Illustrated released a video showing what its issue might look like on a full colour e-reader tablet, such as the one that is rumoured to be in the works at Apple. "
Video is a real eye-opener.
Posted by Gwen at December 21, 2009 04:37 PM