Fully 70% of tablet computer owners want to be able to buy items by clicking on digital magazine ads, reports GfK MRI. Another 70% say they like electronic ads that are personalized to their interests. GfK MRI is the consumer-centric market research firm, which regularly polls its iPanel, composed exclusively of tablet computer and eReader owners.
GfK MRI polled tablet owners who read a magazine on their devices in the last 30 days with several digital-magazine related topics. Additional findings include:
- Nearly three-quarters (72%) of tablet owners who would prefer all digital magazines to be formatted in the same way
- A majority of tablet magazine readers (67%) say that, if available, they would rather read an electronic version of a magazine than a paper version
- Still, 65% say it's more satisfying to read a magazine the traditional way
- Almost half (48%) of tablet magazine readers say electronic magazines take too long to download, 46% say that videos in digital versions of magazines are "just a gimmick" and 43% claim they find it hard to search for magazines they want to read on their tablets
So tablet makers have a few obstacles to overcome before digital magazines offer a fully-satisfying experience, and thus, an entirely effective ad platform. "Although magazine publishers are experimenting with different formats in order to differentiate their digital brands, this is not necessarily resonating with digital readers adopting the new tablet technology," said Risa Becker, SVP Research at GfK MRI.
Still—with a full 70% of digital magazine readers wanting to buy through the format, advertisers have an opportunity to reach some attractive demographics (see chart for tablet/eReader ownership by age).
comScore Data: Newspaper Websites Gaining, Holding Interest
Newspaper websites in Q4 2011 averaged more than 111 million monthly unique visitors (MUVs), up by more than 6 million compared to the same period in 2010, reports the Newspaper Association of America (NAA), citing comScore data. Fully 63% of adult Internet users visited newspaper websites.
A comarison of newspaper website usage data year-over-year (YOY) revealed that average daily visitors increased by more than 3 million, or nearly 15%. Unique visitors increased nearly 6%, while total minutes increased 14%.
The comScore data demonstrate “The growing appeal of newspapers’ online content,” said NAA President and CEO Carolline Little, “particularly for engaged, informed and affluent users whom advertisers…seek to reach.” As Little described, 70% of Internet users with household income (HHI) above $60,000 are reached by newspaper websites, and 75% when looking at HHI above $100,000.
Other key findings about Q4 2011: Among people 45 to 54, newspaper website percentage reach climed to 67%. In the 18 to 34 demographic, website reach remained at or above 60%.
Newspapers are answering these numbers with a steady stream of what NAA calls “innovative strategies designed to maintain and build their digital audiences.” For example, the Star-Ledger of Newark, N.J. launched animated editorials, and the New York Times launched a fashion-focused niche app.
“During all of 2011, the percentage reach of Internet users enjoyed by newspaper websites never dipped below 61 percent,” Little said. “Web-based and other digital platforms at newspaper are capturing—and holding—attention in the marketplace.”
Signs of hope
Editor & Publisher described 2011 as “the lowest point yet” for newspaper ad revenue," with 2011 revenues of $24 billion, down from the record high $49.4 billion in 2005. E&P observed that, however important a digital strategy appears to be, it has yet to fulfill its potential in newspaper revenue. “Sure, digital advertising climbed 8.3%, but digital still contributes only 14.3% to overall publisher revenue. But the newspaper industry is clearly aware of the trend, and 2012 will likely see the digital contribution approaching 17%. E&P opined that newspaper must compete on content, and the papers are treating apps, animation and streaming video as exactly that—content—if not the content they are used to providing.
WSJ Live Launches YouTube Channel
The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) today launched its dedicated YouTube channel, reports Investors Business Daily. First among its advertisers visible to YouTube viewers: the Ron Paul campaign (with a banner ad and 13-minute streaming infomercial), the United Arab Emirates and Boeing.
Key among the on-demand content is its “Off Duty” lifestyle show, based on the section of the same name in WSJ’s Saturday editions. WSH reporter Wendy Bounds will host “Off Duty,” airing every business day at 6pm EST, then available on demand. WSJ is treating YouTube as another distribution channel for its WSJ Live, which offers four hours of live programming per day. WSJ Live is available already on the iPad and Smart TVs. The WSJ Live app is also broadly available, via Apple TV, Google TV and Roku. WSJ claims its Live app for iPad has been downloaded more than 160,000 times since launch in September 2011. A quick check of the Apple iTunes store reveals a five-star rating for the app.
While the “Off Duty” segment is new, it joins several existing segments including Digits, Mean Street, Markets Hub and Opinion.
“The Economist” Banks that China Section Will Draw Readers, Advertisers
Beginning with this week’s issue, The Economist will run a section devoted entirely to China. This is only the third time in 170 years that the magazine has created a country-specific section. But as Editor in Chief John Micklethwait told Audience Development, “China is getting so large that trying to constrain it in a section like geo-politics was difficult.”
China is a broadly-interesting topic, Micklethwait believes, affecting the magazine’s entire global readership. The British-born magazine took the same stance during WWII with its still-existing U.S. section.
Circulation of The Economist within China is a miniscule 3,740, and Micklethwait is not counting on it growing; rather, he is counting on it increasing readership long-term in the U.S., among “That group [that] wants to know more about China than what they’re being told.”
In addition to mainstream business and politics, The Economist has reporters on the ground to cover rural life, social changes and emerging trends.
The Economist claims a 2011 circulation of 1,486,838, and a modest year-over-year growth of 3.03%. But Omniture clocked the digital edition with a swift 7,610,593 unique visitors in December 2011, and 34,124,539 page views.
February’s Magazine Ad Gainers Include Allure, Traditional Home and - Surprise! - Smithsonian
Beauty and lifestyle magazines continue to lead the pack among ad gainers. Condé Nast owns three of five magazines that gained in February issue ad pages, reports Access Intelligence. Its minOnline boxscore tracks ad page gains and losses across 150 titles.
Comparing February 2012 to February 2011, beauty-and-fashion title Allure jumped 32.21 pages, for a 56.67% gain. Teen Vogue was second, with 15.95 pages and a 34.78% gain, and Self rounded out the top five with 19.96% gain.
Traditional Home, a Meredith property, was third with a 34.87% gain, and 13.43 pages. Publisher Beth Brenner cited an “editorial refresh,” with more eye-friendly design and larger product shots.
The one lone cultural publication among those lifestyle magazines—also the only independent publication—was Smithsonian, published by The Smithsonian Institution, which gained 41.22%. New advertisers to the February Obsession-themed include Norway Tourism, Mexico Tourism and Advair, with advertisers like Toyota Prius, Celebrex and Prudential returning. Group publisher Jennifer Hicks believes new editor Michael Caruso, former Los Angeles magazine editor, has generated enthusiasm among advertisers. Smithsonian is also the only magazine with a strong male readership, at 48%.
These said Access Intelligence were exceptions to an “overall dismal February,” with only 53 of 150 titles registering gains, and a cumulative loss of -6.56% across all titles.
Meredith Acquires Allrecipes.com, Expects “Significant Increase” In Digital Scale
Meredith Corporation, publishers of Better Homes, Family Circle and Parents and their accompanying websites, has acquired Allrecipes.com from The Reader’s Digest Association.
Meredith CEO Steve Lacy calls Allrecipes.com “The market leader in the digital food space…[the acquisition] more than doubles the scale of the Meredith Women’s Digital Network.” Allrecipes.com has a database of over 500,000 recipes. Its U.S. audience is 70% female with a mean household income of $73,000, and claims to reach nine out of 10 primary grocery decision makers. Allrecipes.com further claims its mobile apps have been downloaded by over 11 million consumers, and that it is the top food recipe channel on YouTube.
Along with the Allrecipes.com title, Meredith gains access to the site’s proprietary search engine optimization (SEO) expertise, which it will apply across Meredith’s other digital properties. They also buy market penetration: Allrecipes.com has 17 sites in 22 countries. Despite its present reach, Allrecipes.com charges a fairly modest $6 cost-per-thousand (CPM) for run-of-site display ads, and $10 CPM for targeted display ads.
Food titles, in both digital and print, are hot properties. Food Network Magazine has just seen its seventh ratebase jump since late 2009. And the top five digital magazines of 2011, in terms of percent gain of unique visitors, included two food titles, Saveur.com, and Bonappetit.com.
From the Allrecipes.com media kit.
Travel, Weddings & Guns Top Bimonthly Ad Gainers in 2011
Travel bimonthly Departures gained 43% in ad pages in 2011, year-over-year (YOY) and rival title Afar gained 110%. That according to minOnline, which has just released iits 2011 boxscore report of bimonthlies. “No matter what is going on with the economy, people are still getting married and traveling,” said minOnline.
Of 22 magazines, Departures led in page difference, gaining 230 pages. Afar was second with 146. Rounding out the top six were Martha Stewart Weddings, Handguns, Weight Watchers and Bridal Guide.
Disposable income drove ad sales at Departures, which is published by American Express. Editor in Chief Richard Story attributed the growth, in part, to “the strength of the luxury economic resurgence.” Departures attracted new advertisers lilke Barneys, Christian Dior and Versace in 2011.
Content drove gains at Martha Stewart Weddings, said Publisher Amy Wilkins, who credited editor-in-chief Elizabeth Graves and editorial director Darcy Miller. The book plans its first-ever special issue devoted to real weddings in 2012, versus the usually staged pictorials.
Market shifts helped Handguns to its 52% page gain. Publisher Chris Agnes noted a strong market environment “spurred by steady growth in self-defense handgun sales.” The FBI fielded about 16.5 million background checks from firearms sellers in 2011, up 15%, according to a Reuters story.
The bimonthly list is in step with industry-wide figures for 2011. Luxury apparel monthlies and bimonthlies gained 11% in ad pages in 2011, while luxury monthlies Architectural Digest gained 9.1%, and Power & MotorYacht climbed 24.9%.
Gannett Scales Back Metromix In New York: Shades of AOL Patch
Gannett is paring back its online offering New York Metromix, perhaps the most significant of its 65 localized Metromix editions. Local business site Capital New York broke the story yesterday, and called it a “shuttering.” But a Gannett spokeswoman told Capital New York that “Some Metromix employees in editorial, advertising sales,administration and …operations” were eliminated, and that New York Metromix was “evaluating its options” for moving forward.
It appears likely that Metromix will return to its earlier model of aggregating content, but a New York Metromix staffer expressed his doubts that “There’s no way they’re keeping it up.”
Gannett Tribune Company formed a joint venture to acquire Metromix in 2007, when it was local only to Chicago but had enjoyed a healthy 10-year run. Users were typically urban and between 21 and 34. Metromix is currently live in 65 cities, including Chicago, Boston, Los Angeles and San Francisco. Advertisers include local businesses, like Shanghai Restaurant in San Francisco, but heavy-hitters like Chase Sapphire, ZipCar.
No word yet on the fate of the remaining 64 operations. But, going ultra-local appears to be a young and troublesome model. The Metromix trouble comes just a few months after AOL began scaling back its own local-advertising and locally-generated online offering, Patch. Forbes reported in October 2011 that Patch.com was “burning off $40 million per quarter,” after AOL acquired the outlet in 2009. Patch’s more than 800 editors were advised that their budgets for freelancers would be slashed, articles would be republished across the country (despite the ultra-local focus), and editors were encouraged to dedicate their time to pulling in ad revenue.
Editor & Publisher Launching “2020 Vision” of Newspaper Business
Beginning in February, Editor & Publisher magazine will begin “deconstruct[ing] the current newspaper business model and rebuild[ing] it from the ground up,” in a series it calls 2020 Vision.
E&P columnist and industry analyst Alan Mutter predicted that 2011 would mark “the lowest point yet” for newspaper ad revenue. Mutter was analyzing data from the Newspaper Association of America, and predicted that 2011 revenues would be $24 billion, down from the record high $49.4 billion in 2005. Q4 2011 results are still drifting in, but for Q1 through Q3, classified ads fell 12.9%,retail by 8.8%, and national advertising dropped 11%.
In an analysis of data compiled by the Newspaper Association of America, E&P columnist and industry consultant Alan Mutter predicted that 2011 would mark the lowest point yet for newspaper ad revenue — a mere $24 billion in comparison to the record high of $49.4 billion in 2005. Though Mutter has drawn negative comments from our readers for his critique of the industry, the numbers from the NAA can’t be ignored. In the first nine months of 2011, classified advertising fell 12.9 percent, retail dropped 8.8 percent, and national advertising fell 11 percent.
E&P observes that, however important a digital strategy appears to be, it has yet to fulfill its potential in newspaper revenue. “Sure, digital advertising climbed 8.3%, but digital still contributes only 14.3% to overall publisher revenue.
E&P pledges to point a critical eye at every aspectof newspaper publishing, starting with content “always the bread and butter” in February; then moving on to distribution, technology, budget allocation and management.
Newsweek Revives ‘60s Design for Mad Men Special, Challenges Advertisers to Go Retro
Newsweek will return to its 1960s design for one issue in March, in anticipation of the March 25 return of Mad Men on AMC. The weekly will not go so far as reprinting BrylCreem and BromoSeltzer ads, but "We've challenged agencies and clients to do '60s-inspired creative, but for modern messages and products," said Newsweek Daily Beast President Rob Gregory, in an AdAge story. Gregory likens retro-style ads to wearing retro-style uniforms in an NFL game; the game is real.
The March 19th issue will feature a black-and-white cover with red masthead. The cover feature will be Mad Men, alongside a feature on the cultural role of advertising.
On the surface this sounds like pay-for-play, and a bit gimmicky. But, says Newsweek Editor Tina Brown, she conceived the idea while talking with Mad Men creator Matthew Weiner. “Newsweek was very much on the cultural forefront at the time of the show,” said Brown, “So it seemed like a wonderful marriage.” Newsweek ad pages fell 16.8% in 2011, and were down 30.8% in Q1 versus Q1 2010. Ad pages were down in every quarter, but the bleeding slowed to 3% in Q4.
Newsweek is inviting long-existing brands to use vintage ads in the special issue, with one exception; no Lucky Strikes, Old Gold or L&Ms. Mad Men characters including helmsman Don Draper routinely puff away, and the agency depicted keeps cartons of cigarettes in its stockroom, but Newsweek does not accept tobacco advertisements.