Buyers Wary of Electronic Subs Counted Into Circ Stats
After a slow start, digital copies of magazines—essentially electronic replicas—have mushroomed in the past year or so.
In the first half of 2007, 56 consumer titles reported fewer than 500,000 paid digital subscriptions to the Audit Bureau of Circulations. By the end of last year, that number had just about doubled with 110 titles reporting paid digital subs of nearly 1 million, as publishers expanded their appeal to tech-savvy readers.
The copies reported is likely to go up with publishers’ June statements following an ABC rule change in March. The ABC expanded the definition of digital editions to include electronic products (but excluding magazines’ free-access Web sites) that share the same basic identity as the source magazine even if they’re not exact replicas of it.
With soft newsstand sales ringing alarm bells across the industry, the growing use of digital editions hasn’t attracted much attention. Yet it might surprise some media buyers—many of whom are skeptical of digital editions as an ad vehicle—to know that without digital editions, many titles would miss their rate-base guarantees.
Case in point is Hearst Magazines’ Cosmopolitan, the second biggest user of digital subs. Its paid digital subs totaled 99,012 in the second half of 2008, or 3.4 percent of its 2.9 million circ. More than half of those copies were sponsored, or free to the recipient. In the same period, the magazine exceeded its rate base by 26,683 copies, meaning about three-fourths of the digital copies counted towards the rate base. A Hearst representative pointed out that the copies are ABC-approved and that many of its readers like getting their information online.
The biggest user of digital copies is Giant, which converted most of its circ to digital in the past three years (see table).
Scott Daly, executive vp, executive media director, Dentsu America, said he sees “absolutely no value whatsoever” to digital editions and that if he were negotiating with a magazine that sells digital subs as part of its circ, “we would probably discount it, because a digital version of a magazine is not the reason we’d go into a magazine.”
Robin Steinberg, senior vp, director of print investment and activation, MediaVest, said while digital editions hold potential for marketers, more needs to be known about the difference in engagement and take-action levels between readers of print and digital editions. “To serve these copies as part of the rate base without understanding the difference is questionable,” said Steinberg.
Publishers insist their digital copies haven’t been an issue for advertisers. At Bonnier Corp.’s high-end food magazine, Saveur, 21,601 sponsored digital copies accounted for 6.6 percent of its 328,899 circ in the second half of ’08.
Saveur publisher Merri Lee Kingsly said the digital copies usually come with the purchase of a membership or ticket to an event that’s compatible with Saveur’s audience. “We’re still looking at a quality audience, she said.
