Is there a future for tablet-only publications? The last few weeks have
cast an ominous shadow over this niche industry following substantial staff cuts at News Corp.'s The Daily and a decision by the Huffington Post to give up on charging for its iPad magazine after just five issues.
While some media observers are quick to write off the format, many in
the industry see recent woes as part of the natural growing pains of an
emerging market.
A good part of the backlash stems from how inevitable tablet magazines seemed at their inception two years ago. With magazines and legacy print publications struggling, the iPad offered a flashy and
interactive new way for publishers to bring new content to the tech-savvy masses without the burden of printing and distribution costs.
Two years later, however, the tablet publishing market isn't the
runaway success many envisioned. Yet despite glaring questions from
media pundits, many media buyers and industry veterans are surprisingly
calm.
"This is a very new market," said David Rittenhouse, media director at
Razorfish. "It's not like there is a tablet marketplace with billions
and billions of dollars that HuffPo or The Daily is trying to capture. I don't know [that] it is something that happens all that quickly."
Rittenhouse said advertisers and buyers need time to see sustained
audience numbers from native-tablet publications. "I think it will
happen, but it is unreasonable to say it will happen in a two- or
three-year space," he said.
Yet for publishers in the digital age, time is a luxury most can't afford. Take Project,
a monthly iPad-only publication started by Richard Branson's Virgin
Digital Publishing with the U.K.'s Seven Squared around the same time The Daily made its debut. Project
launched with a sleek and highly interactive design and layout elements
(and even saw 101,000 downloads over their first 3 issues). But as with
so many tablet-native publications, brands appeared uniformed or afraid
of jumping on board when it came to advertising.
"I wish there were more creative agences who would have pushed and
encouraged clients to take the jump," a Virgin spokesperson told Adweek.
"We launched the magazine out of naivety and sheer enthusiasm, but that
does not imply any regret. We are proud to have launched the product
and innovate in the space."
In another twist on the model, Mark Edmiston—one-time president/CEO of Newsweek and now CEO of mobile publisher Nomad Editions—has begun finding success pairing up with established brands or websites to target specific audiences.
After largely striking out creating titles from scratch, Nomad launched Hemmings Classic Wheels
with the Hemmings car marketplace in June. While it's still early,
Edmiston said initial results are good. "We found it better to look for
ways to reach out to a particular audience rather than going to America
and saying, 'Here we are! Please buy us!'"
As with any emerging media market, more publications are sure to launch
and then disappear. But some argue that failure isn't a harbinger of
doom for the entire market. "Some initial failures will happen,"
Rittenhouse said. "It is uncertain what will be learned by them, but
that doesn't mean it is a waste of time for publishers to enter the
space. It is how new markets are made. For a media company with adequate
resources and the drive to innovate, perhaps a quick failure is the
best way for them to learn for the future."
The Daily, for one, is looking to do just that with a much
leaner staff. Ultimately, if the content is good, one would hope, people
will eventually show up. Yet few, including The Daily, have
been able to make that a reality—which may be the greatest hurdle for
the tablet-only publication industry. Despite heavy promotional support
by Apple, The Daily only signed up 100,000 subscribers, far
from News Corp.'s expectations. "There is not much in a lot of these
publications that you can't find elsewhere, so what you see is a product
problem. You have to give people a compelling reason to write the
checks," Edmiston said.
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