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Time Inc. Begins Offering Digital Magazine Subscriptions in Newsstand
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I think this is great news. Not sure why people are complaining about the price. SI is a weekly mag and the monthly News stand subscription is 3.99. Doesn't that add up to .99 cents an issue for a 4.99 print mag? I don't subscribe to the print version so I'm not sure how much a year it is, but .99 cents per issue for the iPad version seems more than fair.
Sorry but you are incorrect. Almost 100% of the magazine's cost goes to printing and distribution. The profit comes from advertisements.
The biggest reason why magazines haven't dropped the prices comes from these companies' inability to convince advertisers to pay print ad costs on an electronic platform. Most advertisers see digital distribution as a bonus, nothing more.
If so that will prove a costly mistake on their part.
The "digital" newsstand is well-stocked with no-cost options--sometimes in a different form of the very same product. That wasn't the case in the non-digital arena. Factor that in and the value (to me) goes in the toilet.
Michael
Start a poll to see how many use it here. I think most people still don't use it.
Print+Digital
It's worth noting that you can subscribe at SI.com and get a one-year subscription to print AND digital (iPad, iPhone, PC) PLUS a jacket for the NFL team of your choice AND a T-shirt for that team.
All for ... $39.00.
In other words a penny more than buying digital-only from Apple.
It's worth noting that you can subscribe at SI.com and get a one-year subscription to print AND digital (iPad, iPhone, PC) PLUS a jacket for the NFL team of your choice AND a T-shirt for that team.
All for ... $39.00.
In other words a penny more than buying digital-only from Apple.
Electronic newspaper and magazine delivery are still just a novelty, because the pricing structure makes no sense. As an example, I use Pressreader to get my local paper. The cost per issue is $1, same as print. An ongoing monthly subscription is $30 per month; big deal. So, there is no incentive to subscribe and I only wind up manually downloading a few per month.
Print magazines by mail are very inexpensive. Rolling Stone or Business week, are good examples. The print format is better, it's portable and can be easily saved. So, why should I pay much more for a digital subscription?
Print magazines by mail are very inexpensive. Rolling Stone or Business week, are good examples. The print format is better, it's portable and can be easily saved. So, why should I pay much more for a digital subscription?
I'm pretty sure the real newsstands take the standard 30-40% retail markup....
How is the production cost for a magazine like Time drastically reduced? Moving to digital distribution doesn't reduce the cost of producing content (sending reporters & photographers across the globe, fact checking, copy editing, etc.,) and the cost of producing content is much more expensive than printing and shipping a physical magazine.
It's like with digital downloads of movies. If a movie cost $200mil to make and $70mil to market the cost savings of a digital download vs stamping it onto a plastic disc that costs $0.15 isn't dramatic.
Lethal
That is because the print advertising is worth much more than digital.
In a way old media was/is not that much different than the newer social media. Subscribers weren't the true customers then, and aren't now--advertisers are the real customers.
Michael
I didn't use it until today when my People and this Old House subscriptions was moved from it's own app to Newsstand. I actually had a couple of subscriptions that I subscribe to at home(thus getting a digital copy online) and this morning they got transferred to Newstand without me doing a thing. All that was left was an empty folio where I had originally gathered them all on my iPad
Ironically, I used to use the NT Times app regularly. Once it was sucked into Newsstand I have used it maybe once or twice.
I have a folder for news apps. NYT is no longer in it. See ya'!
Mike
They definitely need to make more iPad enhanced magazines, with interactions and videos.. until then my money will stay in my pocket! haha
Why when you can use Flipboard for free?
Flipboard is nice enough for my news/interests needs.
I could buy Parents Magazine for around $20 a year for iPad/Digital subscription.
Or via a nice deal I found, buy the print version for $12 a year, getting 2 extra years for FREE and it comes with the digital version.
So, rather than pay $20 /year digital
I am paying $4 /year digital and with a paper version if I want to read while someone else is on the iPad.
as far as SI subscription I thought it was high but after reading here I see it is comparable.
Or via a nice deal I found, buy the print version for $12 a year, getting 2 extra years for FREE and it comes with the digital version.
So, rather than pay $20 /year digital
I am paying $4 /year digital and with a paper version if I want to read while someone else is on the iPad.
as far as SI subscription I thought it was high but after reading here I see it is comparable.
It's a bad question in a way, because the app has to be coded for it and many aren't. So even if you wanted to use newsstand you couldn't
I've been getting Time and Sports Illustrated through their apps because I am a print subscriber to both magazines.
Nice to be able to get it through Newstand once my subscriptions expires. The way I do it now, the magazines get tossed in the recycle bin the minute they come in the mail.
Having electronic only is going to be a nice perk. Also the apps are now in Newstand with my other mags.
Nice to be able to get it through Newstand once my subscriptions expires. The way I do it now, the magazines get tossed in the recycle bin the minute they come in the mail.
Having electronic only is going to be a nice perk. Also the apps are now in Newstand with my other mags.
Volume. The price will eventually come down when the numbers go up. You have to make $X amount to produce something. They sell enough paper at current prices to produce and distribute them and make a profit (shrinking as it may be). Digital uses different layouts not to mention media types, so you need people to make that happen. Publishers need to start making a profit before they'll be willing to drop prices. This isn't Microsoft, they can't use one cash cow to fund another, as they're original money maker is sinking as well.
You don't know how these businesses are run, do you?
Apple doesn't add anything. They take 30% of whatever the publisher charges. Even if they only took 5%, the publisher would probably still charge the same. The price of the subscription has nothing to do with how much the distributor gets. It has do with volume and advertising. Publishers make money from getting their clients advertising in front of as many eye balls as possible. If the numbers are high, the advertising space is more valuable.
To further complicate the digital form, it's usually copy protected, which means those ads only reach a 1:1 ratio, whereas a printed magazine may be looked over by a dozen or so people before tossed in the garbage. So every single printed version equates to dozens of views.
Exactly. Publishers love that you can pick up and borrow newspapers and magazines.
The difference in advertising's effectiveness between print and online is huge.
Last year an article in Business Week stated that a NY Times print reader was worth 228 times that of an online reader.
http://www.businessinsider.com/new-york-times-print-versus-online-2011-5
Michael
While the basic premise of your argument is true, there's no way that "every single magazine" is "seen by dozens of people". That's stretching the truth quite a bit.