 |
|
Archives
|
The New Vision of a Digital Future: Monetizing MobilityDigital media might be popular, but from a marketing standpoint, it has not been easy on publications. Ad rates on the web could not match what was being garnered in print, essentially endangering the publications lifespan because of a lack of monetization. What saving-grace could be sitting in the weeds waiting to peek it’s head over – mobile device, and by that, I mean devices that are MOBILE.  As mobile devices increase in use (seen in the eMarketer.com study above), publications are flocking to create applications that can live and function within this new space. Everything from portable phones, to the hot, soon-to-arrive e-readers, tablets and other wireless internet devices; content distributors are seeing these ‘apps’ as the opportunity to both expand their reach and monetize their content at the same time. Mobility In Play Conde’ Naste Publications were one of the first to deliver full magazine issues on apps, staring with GQ’s December issue. By mid-February, according to Advertising Age, it sold nearly 7,000 copies of the December issue app and more than 15,000 copies of the February issue app at $2.99 each. When comparing this to the magazine’s print publication, which averaged nearly 194,000 single-copy sales per issue over the second half of last year, it’s not anything mind-blowing – yet. Conde’ Nast refers to this as a start to something much larger, as they prepare to get in a position to make a major play on the iPad, which is opening many content distributor’s eyes. They have also planned to create digital editions of Wired, Vanity Fair and a number of other titles. When considering the outcome, you have to imagine that a number of people who might download single issues of a publication, could, most likely be, already not a subscriber. And if you charge $3 for that one download, think of 100,00+ people taking that same idea and applying it to their app collection – that will all start to add up. Also, Zinio, which has been selling digitized copies of its magazines for display on computer screens for years, recently created a free iPhone app that optimizes digital editions of its publications for the iPhone. Within the first few weeks of release and 20,000 downloads later, it surpassed the New York Times app as the No. 1 News application. It’s also interesting to see how a number of publishers are not just “unlocking the safe” of web content to a mobile application, but actually releasing specialized apps that draw in related information, but still sell and monetize the brand at the same time. Rodale, best known for its Men’s Health and Women’s Health publications, offer apps that range from 99 cents for a Men’s Health Ultimate Fat Burning app to $4.99 for their Eat This, Not That! Diet app. All of this is not just timely craze being built in branded modules that will live for just a period of time. Advertiser’s see the potential behind these types of apps and the ability to reach more targeted users outside of something like a Facebook or Web widgets were every marketer’s obsession years ago. E-readers & Tablets…And the iPad! This isn’t just all hype – there is something very serious brewing behind the potential of advanced e-readers and tablets, most notably, and always setting off the first alarm when they announce anything new, Apple’s iPad and other similar devices, are going to be a new source of potential income for newspapers, magazines and other print publications looking to make a big push. E-readers and tablets are going to become effective content distributors for content publishers, and in no doubt will grow in terms of advertising revenue and further branded distribution. According to a Mashable article from February 18, Director for Digital Publishing at the Donald W. Reynolds Journalism Institute at the University of Missouri, Roger Fidler, said major news companies such as the New York Times, USA Today, and The Washington Post will be focused on creating customized content standards for e-readers and tablets. He also predicted that within 10 years time, a majority of subscribers to newspapers and magazines will be reading digital editions delivered to mobile reading devices.  As of February 10, there were 99 newspapers from around the world already available on Amazon’s Kindle – and this current Kindle model is subscription-based without advertising. Newspapers get about 30% revenue from having their content on the Kindle, something likely to change because publishers have some leverage because e-reader vendors must have content to succeed and newspapers will have the ability to do more rich presentations – content will evolve in the end game. With that being said, that rushes the issue of staying competitive and enters the first question – “who can hit the ball out of the park to start?,” so to speak. For example, the iPad’s rumored debut turned official last month when Apple announced a March launch date and featured a full-color device with touchscreen; something the Kindle falls well short of at the moment. However, it is being predicted that Amazon will introduce a similar color device before the end of 2010. iPad Will Reign…for now With the pending launch of Apple’s new device, Wired Magazine has been planning, for more than 6 months already, to launch an iPad-only edition of the publication this summer that includes rich media content. Wired’s Editor-in-Chief Chris Anderson showcased a demo of the Wired Reader app at TED recently. The publisher of Wired, Conde Nast, also plans on launching iPad versions of GQ and Vanity Fair as well. From a marketing and advertising standpoint, users that gravitate toward the e-reader subscriptions are looking for similar experiences they draw from the print publication. Those who will want to get even more out of that experience will be more attracted to the iPad. That being said, I see more of a harmonious relationship between the two, rather then one trumpeting over another – and this good news based on what experts reveal could be separate advertising models on each device. New Medium = New Content With the advancement of the iPad and many competitive devices, similar in functionality coming soon, media companies won’t simply be able to re-purpose content. According to Alan Mutter, an independent media analyst, who spoke to Mashable.com in a recent article, said content needs to be richer, offer more user control and interaction, and has to let the user manipulate it in a way that it becomes highly individualized. Sport’s Illustrated recently created an iPad demo prototype on how that capability could be leveraged: Mutter said that although he has reasons to be encouraged, it will take time before a mass amount of publishers go running to this new platform and spend a healthy investment to create these new formats. That will not happen until proof is made that they can generate significant revenue and ultimately become a clear marketing and advertising channel. What is success here? Mutter said that when a number of around 100,000 subscribers are reached through e-readers and tablets alone per publication; then media companies will consider them successful tools to gain additional advertising revenue. It’s All Dollars and Cents In the end however, these are all cutting-edge devices that are clearly going to shake the content distribution channels at their very core. The hope is to generate not only additional advertising revenue, but also separate subscriptions, and potential syndication from other websites – all could be included in a new model of “charging for service.” Mutter said, for example, CNN charges $3 for their iPhone app and the New York Times just gives it away for free. A recent report from Gawker.com said that a New York Times source said that an iPad model of the NYT could run a user up to $20-$30 per month. Why such a high price…they are scared! Even more, they are worried that an advanced device like the iPad would have print subscribers cancelling pretty quickly, and running for the hills with their iPads in hand. In the end however, it is about two pieces to this paradigm: The idea of having content optimized for the platform (whether it is an iPad, e-reader, tablet, iPhone, Android, other mobile device, even a gaming device), and then most importantly - coming up with the model that people will pay for. I guess we’ll just close our eyes and see what happens in the next few months… Labels: Advertising, Direct Marketing, e-readers, iPad, Mobile Marketing, Mobility |
Blog Search
Categories<% '-- add your label directory here labelDir = "m:\web\users\V029U45EBY\html\ovrdrv\blog\labels\" '-- Check for Directory Set FSO = Server.CreateObject("Scripting.FileSystemObject") If FSO.FolderExists(labelDir) Then Response.Write "
No labels in folder: " & labelDir & " " End If Set FSO = nothing %> |
| Blog Home | Social Media Map | Schedule a Seminar | eMarketing Blog | Contact Bloggers | © 2002-<%=Year(Date)%> Overdrive. All Rights Reserved. |
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
Subscribe to Post Comments [Atom]
<< Home