5 reasons why you should publish your magazine as an app

Die History of digital publishing It's hard to believe it, spanning more than 30 years.

During this time, publishers experimented a lot, and numerous attempts failed. Not least because the technical equipment and readers' habits were not yet ready.

However, with the triumph of smartphones and apps, the framework changed fundamentally a few years ago. And media companies have responded to a profound change within their readership.

Auch Figures show a rapid increase in the consumption of digital magazines. In Great Britain, for example, the consumption of digital magazines rose by as much as 80% with over 13 million magazines read.

In this blog, I'll show you five unbeatable reasons why publishers should release their magazine as an app today.

• Distribution is easier
• Apps save costs and resources
• Higher reader engagement through interactivity
• Apps open up new target groups and revenue streams
• New marketing options through apps

1. Distribution is easier

Distributing print magazines nationally or globally costs an enormous amount of time and money. Because all content always has to find its physical way to the reader first. And as is well known, this is no easy task.

The classic sales channel also often requires the active involvement of the reader. For example, they have to visit a kiosk, bookstore or supermarket to even become aware of the current title.

In addition, the circulation of print publications is very limited. Production and shipping costs determine how many people you can ultimately reach. On the other hand, the significantly higher number of potential people you can reach is a huge advantage of digital publishing.

In the digital world, it is much easier to reach your audience. For example, local magazines can digitally reach readers from a remote region of the country. Or national publications expand their reach worldwide with little effort.

With the App Store for iPhone and iPad and Google's Play Store for Android devices, every potential reader has a kiosk literally in their pocket.

Digitizing a print magazine in the form of an app thus simplifies distribution many times over.

An app is loaded with a tap of a finger and readers can be informed about new issues via push messages on request. In addition, billing is processed directly via the store, whether as an individual purchase or a subscription. This is a comfort that cannot be neglected.

2. apps save costs and resources

It is obvious that digital distribution via app costs significantly less than that of printed magazines.

After all, what is one of the most obvious major benefits of digital publishing? Cost savings, of course. The big advantage of this is that the money saved in printing is now available to you elsewhere.

Imagine how much money is spent on producing print editions: on paper costs, printing and shipping your magazines. With digital publications, none of this matters anymore.

However, low print volumes not only have a positive impact on the cost side. Fewer printed copies also mean less use of resources.

That simply means you use tons less paper. This ecological aspect is now also an increasingly strong argument against readers. At this point, younger generations in particular are particularly open-minded. Brands are currently experiencing that young consumers increasingly want to know how companies deal with the issue of sustainability. And not just since the Friday's for Future movement.

Publishers that offer their magazines as an app are thus also demonstrating a sustainable use of scarce resources.

3. Higher reader engagement through interactivity

However, the potential for cost savings is only one aspect. After all, digital formats also offer completely new technical options. Opportunities that, in the best case, lead to an immersive experience of the brand.

Surprisingly, the Alliance of Audited Media (AAM) shows that not enough publishers have yet been able to fully benefit from this trend. Because according to an AAM study 73% of publishers are still exactly reproducing their print editions.

But what exactly makes the difference when it comes to interactivity?

Audio and video come to mind first and foremost. These two options in particular have the potential to take articles to a completely different interactive level. In addition: Generation Z is now almost expecting interactive elements in an app.

With the help of links and elements, such as votes or comments, reading your favorite magazine becomes an active experience for the reader.

For example, they have a direct influence on the design of topics or evaluate content. On the other hand, you as a publisher have the opportunity to get in touch with your readers directly. This strengthens the bond between brand and readers.

From this point of view, an app also offers another invaluable advantage. Because during use, readers reveal a lot about themselves.

This data and information, in turn, is virtually just waiting for regular analysis. They not only provide information about which articles have met with great interest. App usage also reveals, among other things, the time of day at which readers most often pick up the offer. Where they are geographically located. Or how long contributions are consumed.

This is all important information that you can use as a basis for optimizing strategies or creating new content and formats.

4. apps open up new target groups and revenue streams

Reaching for a smartphone is now a matter of course for many. Anyone who manages to be constantly present with their content on this device has the opportunity to reach new groups of readers. Target groups that you do not or no longer reach with a print magazine.

In addition, interactive elements in an app offer the opportunity to open up new sales channels in the future. With print, as a publisher, you traditionally generate the highest revenue by selling ads. App publishing helps you broaden this horizon.

According to one Digital Market Outlook Study Sales in the ePaper and eMagazine sectors will continue to rise to $5.9 billion and $3.3 billion in 2020, respectively.

Another growth opportunity is to offer the products mentioned directly at the tap of a finger. The publisher thus becomes an affiliate. It wasn't all that long ago that The New York Times acquired the product review website The Wirecutter for $30 million. With which goal? Hoping to benefit from the affiliate site's niche reach and revenue, of course.

For the sake of completeness: Another option for you is, of course, to provide additional information for a fee. And you can also market additional ad spaces to advertisers in your app.

This is how the New York Times was able to launch its web and App store significantly expanded over the past year. The digital Advertising revenue at the NYT overtakes print advertising for the first time in the fourth quarter of 2018. More specifically, digital advertising revenue rose 23% to $103 million in Q4, while print advertising fell 10% to $88 million.

“We closed 2018 with total digital revenue of $709 million. After just three years, we have now achieved three quarters of our five-year goal of doubling digital revenue to 800 million dollars by 2020. ”

Mark Thompson, CEO of The New York Times

5. new marketing options through apps

An app is embedded in the respective ecosystem of an operating system with all its possibilities.

An article from the app with friends on digital networks such as facebook or twitter share? This also works with a swipe. This automatically increases the opportunities to be profitably represented on social media platforms.

This in turn also promotes ranking in search engine results. Reviews of the app by blogs and users, for example, also contribute to this. Because every app is also available in the web version of the app stores.

How do you recognize strong articles? The best articles are usually the ones that readers also find. And this is where Google and Facebook are the gatekeepers. Being visible there is still essential for every publisher. An app also contributes to this.

Last but not least, the app icon on the smartphone screen constantly reminds the user of the magazine's brand. The app is therefore more than just another digital touchpoint on the reader's journey. Ideally, it creates a deeper connection with the reader and thus digs the brand into users' awareness.

Furthermore, an app offers another, not so obvious advantage from a marketing point of view. App users represent a clearly defined segment of readers. And as such, they can even be addressed directly. Be it through niche newsletters with optimized content or personalized push messages on the devices. This even gives you the opportunity to create your own community of app readers and address them in a targeted manner.

By the way, a certain niche newsletter called obsession by Quartz has According to their own statements, an opening rate of over 78%. This would make this significantly higher than the average opening rate for media newsletters, which, according to MailChimp, is around 22%.

Also interesting in this context: According to Niche Media, the five must-send emails for trade journals weekly summaries, mini-series, announcements, birthday clubs, and breaking news alerts.

Conclusion

What remains to be said? Are print magazines dead? Certainly not.

What we do know, however, is that digital magazines continue to grow in popularity. Both in Europe and in the USA. Because, and this is obvious, migrating your print magazine to an app opens up many new opportunities.

It is precisely these opportunities that make a decisive difference compared to the early days of digital publishing. Just a few years ago, the technical possibilities of today were unimaginable. Bulky data carriers were necessary. Readers had to sit rigidly in front of a computer or install software.

So why is it worth integrating app publishing into your content strategy again? Firstly, reading habits have changed drastically. Secondly, the advantages of digital publishing now clearly outweigh the disadvantages.

As you know, an app is just a valuable distribution channel for your content. Whether it's Facebook, Twitter, your website or Apple News, there are numerous other possibilities. With our Purple DS Hub, you create content once and distribute and monetize it across all your channels. Find out more about our Multichannel Content Hub here.

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