1. How Will Magazines Remain Profitable in the Digital Age?
Printed media has over many years seen a gradual decline in revenue and size, I Shay Woods
will look into how this declining industry will remain profitable against all odds
“The total number of print magazines has shrunk from 2,929 in August 2011 to 2,639 today
(June 2013), a 10 percent net decline in the number of titles, after accounting for a
significant number of launches in the last two years.”(1) This is according to Jasper Jackson
who has looked in depth at magazine decline over the last few years, this indicates the
gloomy side of the industry, but not to worry there are always silver linings, with the
widespread use of tablets Chris Anderson, editor of Wired magazine said in 2012, “The
arrival of the tablet represents a grand experiment in the future of media. Over the next few
months, we’ll integrate social media and offer a variety of versions and ways to subscribe in
digital form. We’ll learn through experimentation, and we will watch closely as our readers
teach us how they want to use tablets” (2) this is a suggestion as to how the magazine
industry will evolve and from what can be gathered many magazines are taking the initiative
and have adapted relatively quickly to the tablet explosion that is dominating the consumer
market. Examples of this include Empire magazine who offer a subscription service that
allows the use of downloading the app to their preferred tablet format the iPad as well as
providing the subscriber with a hard copy for both via direct debit it will cost £45 a year
whereas buying them separately just the online edition is £40 this is a way of showing how
profitable online can be for magazine. According to Karen Haslam“iPad has 70% of the UK
market, which according to government figures, equates to around 2,100,000 people
owning an iPad here in the UK.” So looking at that statement and Empire Magazines

2. business model there is a financially stable model. With tablet computers booming, this has
opened up massive opportunities for magazines but also brings about a new expense.
Magazines are required to understand their readership in ways they have never done
before, they need to understand how and when the consumer uses the media, a common
pattern known as the “daily arc” which is the notion consumers have a standard working
day and will check their smartphones emails etc on a regular basis, a consumer wants
information available for when they are available for example when they wake up they want
to know what is happening in the world so information needs to be with them before they
even wake up, this is also the case for lunch breaks, commuting, waiting for dinner etc.
Digital media starts at entry level by building a website that will have a broad reach and
attract a range of readers however to monetise on digital magazines need to expand the
online business this article will run through a few brief methods.
Magazines need to exploit every penny they can from consumers more so with online and
digital media due to much lower revenue made from advertisements, products such as
mobile apps, subscriptions and pay walls on websites are key to this. Paywalls can be an
effective revenue earning by making a product exclusive a consumer will pay for a product
in the belief they are getting a better product and it installs a sense of brand loyalty.
According to Bauer Media “Readers give commitment to their magazines. The time spent
reading is substantial, and the copies are read thoroughly.”(3) A small case study carried out
by Tony Rogers found “The Concord Monitor: The paywall for the 20,000-circulation daily
went up in May 2011. According to publisher John Winn Miller, home delivery revenue is up
significantly, Sunday sales are up, and single-copy declines have leveled off. Most important,
online revenue is booming.

3. Miller adds, "Frankly, I haven't found a downside."”(4) admittedly being based on a
newspaper this may not be the full story for magazines however it is one that certainly
shows potential and defies the rule of you cannot go from free online to paywalls.
Magazines need to learn to adapt to be profitable this means giving the consumer what they
want when they want this can be done via recognising that digital magazines are growing so
this highlights the future within a declining market highlighting the need for investment,
such as CMS systems for editorial input and the outsourcing of basic and menial tasks,
developing different versions of the magazine suitable for a number of different platforms
such as mobile, tablet, pc and in coming years the possibility of products like smart watches
etc.
When working with digital media data is instant so changes can be made at the click of a
button if an article is not receiving the views it can be removed or that future issues can
drop the feature section meaning wastage is reduced in terms of time so effort can be
focussed on consumer action giving the consumer what they want meaning more readers
which in turn leads to higher turnover.
In knowing what the consumer wants you need to understand their habits many readers like
to read both the paper and print versions of a magazine so linking the two formats will draw
consumers from the print version to the digital and vice versa using techniques such as QR
codes, discount subscriptions, podcasts and trailers. Linking to knowing what the consumer
wants is SEO using key words, tags and phrases to appear more noticeable in search
engines, SEO techniques change frequently with Google regularly changing algorithms to
force websites to constantly update to remain in the top searches.

4. In conclusion for magazines to remain financially viable in the digital age they need to
reinforce both print and digital mediums with print currently providing the larger chunk of
advertising revenue as well as keeping at the cutting edge of social media and private media
technology.
References
1. Jasper Jackson. (2013). The decimation of UK magazines: Print magazines fell 10
percent since 2011 . [online]Available:
http://www.themediabriefing.com/article/432-print-magazines-close-in-two-years-
how-long-have-print-mags-got. [Last accessed 30/12/13.]
2. Steve Cooper. (2012). How will magazines remain profitable in the digital age.
[online]Available:
http://www.owtapuk.co.uk/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=600:h
ow-will-magazines-remain-profitable-in-digital-age&catid=137&Itemid=573. [Last
accessed 30/12/13.]
3. Bauer Media. (2013). Why Magazines.. [online]Available:
http://magazines.bauermediaadvertising.com/why_magazines. [Last accessed
30/12/13.]
4. Tony Rogers. (2013). Do Newspaper Website Paywalls Actually Work?. Available:
http://journalism.about.com/od/trends/a/Do-Newspaper-Website-Paywalls-
Actually-Work.htm. Last accessed 30/12/13.