Saturday Evening Post and Panna Magazine

APPLICATION: Saturday Evening PostProduced By: Curtis Publishing CompanyPrice: $3.99/issue; $9.99/one-year subscription (6 issues)Platform: iOSContemporary American culture takes on a new form with the launch of the Saturday Evening Post’s new iOS mobile app. The new app for America’s oldest magazine has a number of features that offer readers a kind of accessibility to the Post that they’ve never experienced. Not only can subscribers read the Post on their Apple devices, but they’re now able to access audio and video in each issue. Also, search capabilities simplify the task of finding articles within an issue. The Post is a pioneer in magazine publishing, having been around for nearly 300 years. And though transitioning into a multi-media publishing environment has been a measured process, editorial director Steven Slon doesn’t see this as a disadvantage. “We weren’t able to do this earlier but we felt that that gave us a bit of an advantage because we were able to see how other companies developed apps and use that as an example,” Slon says.Slon believes the app has the potential to diversify and expand its audience demographics. “We are trying to reach out to a younger demographic and the app is a good way to for us to do that,” Slon says. “The magazine is about things that are happening today and about contemporary experience in America, which are topics that appeal to more than one age group.” With the advancement, the Post hopes to maintain its place as America’s magazine for generations to come. Editor’s Note: Saturday Evening Post editorial director and associate publisher, Steven Slon was interviewed for the Corner Office feature of the November/December issue of Publishing Executive. In the article, Slon discussed the future of the Post with PE editorial director, Lynn Rosen. APPLICATION: Panna MagazineProduced By: How 2 MediaPrice: $4.99/issue; $14.99/yearPlatform: iOSThose interested in enhancing their cooking repertoire might consider downloading the app for digital cooking magazine Panna. Each issue offers subscribers step-by-step instructions for 13 seasonal recipes. But what really separates Panna from other magazines, cooking or otherwise, is that the recipe instructions are explained through video, rather than text or still images.Panna features a number of celebrated chefs and covers a wide range of cooking styles from around the world. Using their own personal kitchens and supplies, Panna’s chefs walk subscribers through the cooking process in a way that allows even the most novice cooks to follow along.Founder and CEO of Panna, David Ellner, believes digital publications have a prominent role in the future of publishing. “If you’re aiming towards the future it seems like the right idea,” Ellner says. “While I love printed publications, the product I wanted to create was going to focus on video.” The app’s features make navigating through video recipes very simple. By tapping anywhere on the screen, you can pause the videos, and by swiping the screen you can skip to the next step in the recipe. Panna also allows users to stream and download any videos they want to keep. “Consumers don’t just want to be able to have access to the videos, they want to be able to own it, and our app allows them to do that,” Ellner says of the accessibility his new app offers its users. The Panna app can be downloaded for free from the iTunes store. Individual issues cost $4.99, while a full-year, bimonthly subscription costs $14.99.“There’s no comparison: When you’re trying to follow along with a recipe and you can visually watch somebody actually cook it. I wouldn’t say it’s superior, but it is a different experience,” Ellner says. “A picture is worth a thousand words, and a video is worth a thousand pictures.”

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Saturday Evening Post and Panna Magazine

Geoffrey Knight

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