Reading on the Move

When the iPad arrived on the scene in early 2010, the possibilities for digital magazines seemed to skyrocket. Excited murmurs zipped through the magazine industry. With its large screen size and growing popularity, the iPad quickly assumed a dominant position on the tech scene, a reputation quickly confirmed with high-profile, whiz-bang tablet apps from iconic brands like Wire, Popular Mechanics and Sports Illustrated. Over time, tablet magic began to seem more like smoke and mirrors for some hoping for a big monetary return, and while the iPad has secured a permanent place in the publishing landscape, its exact role for magazines is still a developing story. However, this is not an article about the ups and downs of magazines on the iPad, but rather of publishers' recent renewed interest in the tablet's not-so-humble older sibling, the iPhone. For all its success, the device that re-wrote the book on media consumption initially did not seem to offer much in the way of opportunities for magazines, as its small screen size made it hard to replicate the traditional lean-back reading experience. Even as publishers like Condé Nast and Meredith jumped into tablet publishing with both feet, the niche for the iPhone and other smartphones seemed restricted to games and specialized "utility" apps. However, despite the challenges of working with such small real estate, a trend has erupted of adapting full magazine editions for the iPhone. The New Yorker, The Economist, Men's Health …magazine after magazine is turning to the iPhone to launch brand new full digital editions. The reason for the trend may have to do with recent data on the exploding ad market for mobile products; with most of Facebook's growth occurring on mobile and figures pointing to a huge surge for the format over the next few years (analyst Gordon Borrell of Borrell Associates predicts 88 percent of local advertising will be served on mobile devices by 2016), the market is simply too important to ignore. Small Packages In fact, when it comes to consumer appeal, the very characteristic that led some to dismiss the iPhone's capability is the same element that has turned it into a viable move for digitized magazines—its small size. As Sean Bumgarner, Men's Health's interactive design director, points out, "We've known that there is a desire for our kind of content on the iPhone … it's something you have with you all the time, versus an iPad, which is this great digital experience, but it's not something that you're going to carry with you every single place you go." Its diminutive size allows for easy portability. While tablets offer the luxury of a roomy screen, the iPhone is a device that can be carried in your pocket. The easy convenience provides users with the opportunity to use it at a moment's notice—or rather, more importantly, a moment's downtime. All the places people used to pick up a print magazine: hospital waiting rooms, airport lounges, on the train home—with the iPhone, consumers can browse just as easily. It is also notable that, though the iPad has been gaining popularity, the iPhone still reaches a much larger demographic. As Bumgarner explained, "With 220 million potential readers out there, it's a huge marketplace and people want good content." As long as publishers can create a good experience for readers, magazines on the iPhone have the potential to make a big impact on the market. But the question now becomes, how do you provide good magazine content on a screen that is five centimeters wide and seven centimeters tall? The easy way would be to simply shrink down the pages to fit the screen. Colin Fleming, worldwide digital publishing evangelist for Adobe Systems, isn't convinced that readers will like the pinching and zooming involved in this technique. Instead, he prefers another approach to magazine digitization. According to Fleming, it's "What you do to add interactivity or extend the story in new directions" that is exciting and spices up the appeal to consumers. He explains that there are many ways for magazines to capitalize on this smartphone experience. "Do you consider having audio segments to add a voice to the story? An interview with somebody whom the article is written about? How do you extend the story visually? Instead of having a single or only three images, do you end up putting slideshows in?" While there may be more pages of text because of the screen size, in terms of extending the experience of the story, the opportunities are growing. From audio to visual imagery, the interactive extension of the story on the iPhone takes the experience past a recreated document of the print version, and onto a different, richer magazine experience. Men's Health's launch of the new iPad and iPhone editions for their September edition (available in August) takes full advantage of the interactive opportunities of the iPhone. Working with the Adobe Digital Publishing Suite, they've incorporated slide shows, extra images, and video workouts. Each magazine will offer interactive features that suit their audience's needs. The use of audio on the iPhone is particularly attractive for magazines like Men's Health and helps explain why Rodale spent so much time developing content for the iPhone edition. "Users on iPhone and iPod touch often have headphones attached, which is a very different expectation than for the user on the iPad," Bumgarner explains. "So for workout exercises, when in the past we've had … frame by frame animation, we're presenting those in audio [format] as well as video. You can actually listen to the exercise, which we think is a great advance for the iPhone. You can be in the gym and you can be referencing [the workout] visually, but we think having those audio cues are really powerful ways to take advantage of the form." Men's Health has also included invigorating workout playlists for exercisers to get pumped up to while working out. Realizing Revenue While the interactivity is exciting, one very real question is whether the iPhone makes financial sense. What financial gains are to be had from creating this new magazine edition? In working with the iPhone, magazines aren't limited to a specific page count and all the costs that are associated with it. This allows for the reader to receive just as much bang for his or her subscription buck as with a print mag—perhaps even more. Men's Health is tackling the financials of this development by offering a single subscription packaging the iPad with the iPhone. There are many options magazines have in terms of exploring financial opportunities with the iPhone. Publishers can allow specialized subscriptions that include back issues, bundled publications or other special programs. Packaging single issues for sale as well as offering annual subscriptions are other viable options. And of course, this leads us to where all roads eventually go when discussing magazines—advertising. It's wonderful to have found a way to develop a viable magazine for the tiny iPhone, but how can the iPhone possibly match the iPad's potential for advertising opportunities? Men's Health is considering the iPhone as its own advertising vehicle. Bumgarner explains, "We will have single sponsorship for it. We are not relying on it [the iPhone] for additional circulation numbers." Instead, they will be asking single sponsors to create screens and advertisements for iPhone editions. According to Lynly Schambers-Lenox, group product marketing manager of digital publishing at Adobe Systems, magazines and advertisers have nothing to fear from the iPhone—in fact, in some ways it enhances the advertising experience. New features such as 360 rotation image sequencing allow advertised products to be viewed from all sides. With HTML5, it's now possible for consumers to click on a Web view and be taken straight to an e-commerce website to purchase an item. The time between advertisement and purchase is now shorter than ever. As a bonus, "Advertisers can better track the performance of their advertisements from within digital magazines," Schambers-Lenox notes. With HTML5, consumer activity can be tracked from the initial click to the final purchase. It all adds up to more revenue potential for advertisers—and thus, magazines. Despite the small real estate available, there is real hope that consumers will actually be more receptive to advertising on smartphones. "I think people are very comfortable with consuming ads . . . When you think of banner advertising on a website, people pretty much ignore that, they think of it as a distraction, but yet they're comfortable seeing ads on the iPhone. I think when you look at advertising and the context of magazines on the iPhone, the ads are going to be engaging and people are going to be engaging with that," Schambers-Lenox says. The qualities of the advertisements and the way that they are made a part of the digital magazine experience will make all the difference between an irritated or stimulated consumer. And so this story does not necessarily end with the diminutive older brother defeating the brawny younger, but rather, a partnership in which the potential capabilities and strengths of both are recognized and capitalized. The iPad will continue to be a huge player in digital magazines, but the iPhone is far from disadvantaged. With its portable size, far-reaching audience, and interactive features suited to its small frame, it will not go undervalued. The recent spike in full edition magazines adapting specifically for the iPhone is proof that (in the case of magazines at least) small size doesn't necessarily spell disaster. PE

General

Reading on the Move

Whitney Reed

About

Subscriptions

Events

Publications

WORK SMARTER - LEARN, GROW AND BE INSPIRED.

Subscribe today!

Whitney Reed