We can never resist a magazine or two when standing in the checkout line at Target. Now the retail chain is hoping to spawn similar magazine purchases online through a new digital magazine newsstand it has created in partnership with digital content provider Zinio. Target.com shoppers can order digital subscriptions, single copies, and archived copies of hundreds of magazines on the new co-branded, private-label newsstand site target.zinio.com. The digital copies can be read on the computer, or on e-readers or mobile phones.
But Target isn’t the only one venturing into digital newsstand technology. Time Inc. is said to be in talks with other publishers, such as Conde Nast and Hearst, on the creation of a digital newsstand that could become the “Hulu for glossies,” where magazine-like publications are delivered via e-readers. Time Inc.’s John Squires made the announcement at the Oct. 14 Magazine Innovation Summit. More details about the new venture, including a possible third-party that would act as the storefront, should be announced next month, with a launch date of 2010.
Industry buzz digital, e-readers, newsstand, Target, Time Inc.
Earlier this month, The Economist launched a mobile newsstand of sorts, allowing New Yorkers to get the week’s Economist overnighted to their home. It’s a simple system: Readers sign up for weekly texts, which arrive on Thursday, listing each week’s top stories and topics for the next day’s magazine. If they’re interested, all they have to do is click on the link and order by 9 p.m. The Economist will be hand-delivered to their door by 6 a.m. the next morning, before newsstands even get them. The overnighted copies cost $6.99, the same as the newsstand copies, and the system gives the Economist a better idea of what news topics readers respond to the most. The publication first tested the text message system in England, and it’s hoping to roll it out to the entire U.S. But hopefully by then it will be as easy as simply responding to the text to get a copy (rather than going to a website to order). Read the full story here.
Industry buzz Economist, magazines, mobile, newsstand, text
There’s little doubt that times are tough in magazine publishing right now. With ad revenues sinking lower and lower, what’s going to save the freebie magazines that have solely relied on that cash flow? According to an article in this week’s Newsweek, the answer might no longer be found in the price of ad space, but it perhaps it can be found in the price of the actual magazine. It seems the days of free magazines—or even $10 subscriptions—might be numbered. Increasingly, magazines are upping their newsstand and subscription prices to help replace what’s gone missing in advertising revenue. According to Mr. Magazine, the average price of a magazine on the newsstand is now $8.10, compared with $5.37 in 2000.
Industry buzz magazines, newsstand, Newsweek, price, revenue, subscription
