You would have to be living under a rock not to realize that we are in the midst of a digital revolution, everywhere you turn in today’s world there are digitally enhanced devices or communication ports vying for your attention. It should then come as no surprise to learn that digital’s share of revenue at magazine publishers has more than doubled in the last year, according to a survey by the Professional Publishers Association’s Publishing Futures. Print still dominates the model but digital is catching up, and fast.
Barry McIlheney, the chief executive of the PPA, said: “This year’s survey contains encouraging signs for the industry as a whole: turnover, profit and headcount are all on the rise, and there is a continued trend towards an increasingly multi-platform, international future, driven by growth in digital, mobile and live events.
Digital magazines have been enjoying some well-deserved exposure recently; search engine giants Yahoo have intimated that digital magazines will be an integral part of their sales strategy. EBay co-founder Pierre Omidya has backed the new e-magazine ‘The Intercept’ with has plans for further digital publications in the pipeline. Sales of digital magazines have been enjoying year on year increases and this trend looks set to continue for the foreseeable future. The world at large has gone digital, there are many statistics and figures to support this statement. Publishers today simply have to include digital as part, if not the major influencer, of their strategy.
Print magazines, while continuing to dominate sales at the present time, are under serious pressure with falling advertising revenue and readership numbers causing concern for publishers across the globe. Increasing smartphone and tablet adoption has made the progression to digital content consumption a natural one for the consumer. Many publishers have realized this fact and are adjusting their approach to facilitate publications that combine both print and digital editions which has been helping their cause but worryingly there are still a number of publishers who have so far resisted going with the wind of change.
Many digital editions of print publications have enjoyed success to such a degree that they have seen sales double in the past year alone. It is clear that this segment of publishing is growing at such a rate that it will become the dominant force before too long (in some sectors it already has), in order for magazines to survive and prosper they have to be a part of the digital sphere, they have to be where the consumer is and the consumer is online.
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