Publishers Team Up on Kia Digital Ad Buy

Marking an advancement for digital magazines advertising, 45 magazine titles representing 15 publishing companies are running ads for the Kia Sorento in their digital editions.
 
The buy launches Zinio’s newly created Publisher Advertising Network (ZPAN), which was recently reported by Mediaweek (see link below). Zinio creates digital editions of magazines for desktop computers and the Apple iPhone.
 
Magazines have been scrambling to create digital versions of their titles for the PC, iPhone and e-reading devices in hopes of offsetting waning print ad revenue and capturing readers as they migrate away from print.
 
But until they have big digital audience numbers to show, it’s hard to imagine magazines attracting serious advertiser interest. By aggregating the audiences of its client magazines, the Zinio ad network is an attempt to address the scale issue.
 
How ads on the still-nascent iPhone and e-reader platforms will be priced is another big question surrounding digital versions of magazines. Zinio said its pricing is based on confirmed views by readers and that the Kia campaign is expected to reach in the “hundreds of thousands.”
 
Zinio didn’t reveal the cost of the campaign, but a spokesperson said the ads were paid for and that in most cases the publisher and Zinio are splitting the revenue 50-50.
 
“We have been careful to ensure pricing considers the high-impact brand messaging that magazine ads are able to provide, while simultaneously enabling responsible metrics to ensure these buys return value to the advertiser,” the rep said.
 

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