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Hearst Magazines Join Apple's 'In App Subscription' Program

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The Wall Street Journal reports that Hearst Corporation has agreed to Apple's terms for in app subscriptions, making plans to begin selling subscriptions to several of its magazine titles beginning with their July issues.Starting with their July issues, iPad apps for Esquire, Popular Mechanics and O, The Oprah Magazine, will be available through a service from Apple that allows customers to sign up for subscriptions inside the apps and get billed automatically. Subscriptions to all three publications will be sold for $1.99 a month or $19.99 a year.

Only a few publications have begun using Apple's iTunes subscription service, launched in February. Hearst is the first major magazine publisher to commit to selling subscriptions to multiple titles through it.Hearst noted that it will also offer subscription access to its newspaper titles and other content in the future.

The development marks another significant victory for Apple in its push to bring magazine content to the iPad. Just days ago, it was revealed that Apple and Time Inc. have struck a deal to allow subscribers to the print editions of Sports Illustrated, Time, and Fortune to access the digital editions of those titles on the iPad free of charge. Time has yet to commit, however, to offering standalone iPad subscriptions for those titles.

Article Link: Hearst Magazines Join Apple's 'In App Subscription' Program
 
Article Link
https://www.macrumors.com/2011/05/05/hearst-magazines-join-apples-in-app-subscription-program/
It's still a tough sale when you can get a year's subscription to the print edition for $6 to $10, so I'm not interested in paying $19.95 for a year's subscription that eliminates the paper and physical distribution costs. Until the annual iTunes subscription is in the same range as the discounted print subscriptions, the market is going to be limited here.
 
These companies don't get it. Their readership is aging and dying. They're trying to attract a younger audience by offering them digital subscriptions at a higher rate than print subscriptions. Do they employ marketing people?

Here's my free marketing advice to these idiots. We know your money is made based on selling reader demographics. Offer the subscriber something (longer subscription, exclusive content) in exchange for them agreeing to provide demographic information.
 
Zinio

How is that economically viable when you can purchase Ipad subscriptions, through Zinio, for $8 (Esquire) and, $12 (Popular Mechanics) ??
 
Hopefully this will be the start of a domino effect and we'll see loads of other magazines offering subs. But as others said I'd like the iPad version to be cheaper or at least a match for paper subs.
 
grahamwright1 said:
It's still a tough sale when you can get a year's subscription to the print edition for $6 to $10, so I'm not interested in paying $19.95 for a year's subscription that eliminates the paper and physical distribution costs. Until the annual iTunes subscription is in the same range as the discounted print subscriptions, the market is going to be limited here.
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Absolutely right. And what I hate to see is these companies come out in six months and say the iPad model does not work. There will be low demand because people aren't willing to pay $19.99 a month for something they can get for $10 a month and the consumer knows the publisher is able to produce it a lower rates.
 
Steelers7510 said:
Hopefully this doesn't fail like "The daily" is...
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I just finished my free trial (plus a bonus half week for some reason) and I actually kinda like it. For the cost of a coffee a month you get newspaper/magizine every day. I haven't paid for any of it yet, but I do want this kind of content to succeed on the iPad. There will be an adjustment period, but I don't want to providers to become frusterated before that is built.

rdowns said:
These companies don't get it. Their readership is aging and dying. They're trying to attract a younger audience by offering them digital subscriptions at a higher rate than print subscriptions. Do they employ marketing people?
.
Click to expand...
Think of it from their perspective. Print edition in the US alone is available to 300 million people. Then I'm sure many are international. This iPad edition is only available to.. what, 15 million? So there isn't the same incentive there, and the higher prices come from needing to recoup the cost of putting it in digital format. As the market grows and as the learning curve lessens the prices will start to lower

grahamwright1 said:
It's still a tough sale when you can get a year's subscription to the print edition for $6 to $10
Click to expand...

Yowzers! I don't subscribe to any magazine's currently but can you really get a years subscription for $6? That's pretty cheap
 
They don't understand: what do they provide that people would pay for?

Who buys magazines anymore when the news/info they give is sloppy, old, and an excuse to have ads on every other page? $5 a pop or $1 a go, it's intrinsically worthless. They need to try harder with what they provide to set them apart from flyers delivered for free in my mailbox.
 
Really people?

Come on... $2 a month isn't bad. I understand you can get the print version cheaper, but $2 isn't horrid.

However, I do think they would do better at $.99 per-month or $10 for the year. That would be in line with discounted print subscriptions.
 
This is so crazy. Yesterday I subscribed through Zino to Esquire ($8Can) and Macworld ($19Can). those prices I can live with. How is this new business model going to succeed? How would a unknowing customer feel if they paid those prices and then found out about services like Zino?
 
Mad Mac Maniac said:
Think of it from their perspective. Print edition in the US alone is available to 300 million people. Then I'm sure many are international. This iPad edition is only available to.. what, 15 million? So there isn't the same incentive there, and the higher prices come from needing to recoup the cost of putting it in digital format. As the market grows and as the learning curve lessens the prices will start to lower
Click to expand...

It's not just the iPad, there are other tablets out there. And the magazine is already in digital format as part of the printing process.
 
For publications that don't get to negotiate with Apple for in app subscriptions, Apple will be laughing all the way to the bank, with their 30% cut for doing absolutely nothing!
 
steviemax said:
How is that economically viable when you can purchase Ipad subscriptions, through Zinio, for $8 (Esquire) and, $12 (Popular Mechanics) ??
Click to expand...

The version of the magazines sold through Zinio is basically a PDF -style document with no interactive functionality. The Zinio version of Esquire is a flat experience whereas the dedicated app version is a rich multimedia experience. That's how they justify the extra cost - it costs a lot more to pay designers and developers to create multimedia content rather than just convert an existing publication to a flat pdf-style version.
 
This works out well for me. I'm planning to get an iPad in June, and I've been waiting for a Popular Mechanics subscription to become available. I've been a subscriber for years, and I'm tired of reading the magazine and then chucking it into the recycle bin every month. It just seems so wasteful. The electronic version is the same price as my paper subscription, so for me it's a no-brainer. I'm really glad the industry is finally moving to electronic delivery.
 
Stella said:
For publications that don't get to negotiate with Apple for in app subscriptions, Apple will be laughing all the way to the bank, with their 30% cut for doing absolutely nothing!
Click to expand...

I wouldn't say nothing... They host marked and manage the infra structure but that cost is very low compared to all the revenue they get, that's for sure!
 
aricher said:
The version of the magazines sold through Zinio is basically a PDF -style document with no interactive functionality. The Zinio version of Esquire is a flat experience whereas the dedicated app version is a rich multimedia experience. That's how they justify the extra cost - it costs a lot more to pay designers and developers to create multimedia content rather than just convert an existing publication to a flat pdf-style version.
Click to expand...

Although I've not yet seen the Apple App version of Esquire, I have the Zinio version and, as far as I can tell, it is an exact replica of the magazine, adapted for the Ipad - no different than any other Zinio sponsored magazine.
 
ciTiger said:
I wouldn't say nothing... They host marked and manage the infra structure but that cost is very low compared to all the revenue they get, that's for sure!
Click to expand...

Yes, but you and others forget that Apple have been paid to host that file via the $99 developer fee. Apple don't demand extra payment for other free applications that don't have subscriptions. Apple allow free applications, and that $99 yearly subscription covers the costs - if it doesn't then that is Apple's problem.

This is why subscriptions are failing *badly*: publishers don't want to give over 30% to Apple for doing next to nothing: the digital subscription content doesn't even touch Apple's servers. In fact, Apple have already have had negotiate with Time ( details are lacking though ), in order for Time to have subscriptions on the Apple iOS App Store. If I go into Best Buy and buy, say, WoW, Best Buy don't demand payment for future WoW montly subscriptions ( although BB lack a re-download function so I can download Wow as many times as I like :D !)
 
P.T. Barnum may have been right

;) They might want to rethink their business model.

While convenient, this scheme may see low adoption by their more discerning customers, at least until such time as print publications cease to exist, or before then rising in price to match supposedly captive electronic audiences.

The current business model of magazines is for even the higher newsstand price only to reflect a portion of the actual cost of a publication, the majority covered by advertising. In just checking one major publication I see that their subscription rate, which is always an enticement to gain stable readership numbers, was $8 for one year, and even less at $14 for two.

Apple and Hearst Inc. may have a hard time explaining to me why I should pay them more for one year of of their service than well less than that for two years of something I can hold in my hand. All the more so as I understand the high costs associated in just printing and distribution, the money they save in consequence, but somehow charge all the more for.

Perhaps P.T. Barnum was correct, or at least their feeling for their 'consumers.'
 
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