A rescue plan for publishers

The publishing industry is undergoing a dramatic transformation. Old business models are falling away and media companies are grappling with the task of how to monetise their content and retain profitability. Chris Sheard, marketing manager of YUDU Store, looks at how new technology can be the industry's saviour.

The old Chinese proverb about living in 'interesting times' certainly applies to today's publishing industry. Witnessing a transformation not seen since the invention of the printing press in 1439, once again new technology has turned the industry upside down.

Consumers are now drastically changing their media consumption habits as the reading of daily newspapers and the watching of the six o'clock news is replaced by rolling news, RSS feeds and 24 hour internet.

Magazines and newspapers have been severely hit. Sales across many titles have been in steep decline with the industry haemorrhaging journalists in a bid to cut costs. It's therefore not surprising that many publishers have seen up to 80% of their share value wiped out in the last year alone.

It's not just newsstand sales that have been falling away, of even greater concern is the structural change in classified advertising. Consumers now expect to advertise for free with websites such as eBay, Gumtree and Craigslist now a permanent, but free, fixture within the advertising landscape.

Display advertising has similarly been hit with brands transferring spend online in a bid to track sales and measure performance rather than rely on the 'finger in the air' estimations generated by print advertising.

Confronted by a 'perfect storm', how can publishers rescue themselves?

Firstly, publishers need to fully realise the potential of their brand. Magazine and newspaper brand values remain strikingly high and it's no coincidence that when consumers reach online for content, they will often visit trusted brands that have their roots in printed media. The Telegraph, Guardian and Mail online, to name but three, are hugely popular websites. Ditto magazine websites such as hellomagazine.com and bbcgoodfood.com.

Secondly, publishers need to harness the huge increase in audience website traffic. The Daily Telegraph's printed edition sells 870,000 copies per day. Its website, however, received 27 million unique users in July alone.

Much of this traffic is worldwide – the Mail online achieves nearly 30 million unique users a month, yet nearly 70% of this traffic originates from outside the UK. Even the London Evening Standard, a fairly insular title, achieves over forty per cent of its traffic from outside the UK.

Finally, publishers need to examine how new technology (which has been so instrumental in ruining their old business model) can be used to take advantage of both the value of their brand and also the volume of online traffic.

One such solution is online magazine subscriptions using digital editions (also known as page-turning magazines).

These online page-turning magazines, an example of which can be viewed here, replicate the exact look of the offline printed publication yet have significant advantages:

• They can be downloaded and viewed offline
• Embedded rich media in the form of video and audio can be added to enhance the reading experience
• Live forums and subscription clubs can sit alongside the online magazine to add value for subscribers
• A variety of payment options/subscription lengths are available accompanied by a global currency converter allowing worldwide reach.

This new technology has the ability to transform publishing by allowing companies to harness the power of their brands and monetise their web traffic by driving online subscriptions globally - be it Chile, Sweden or New Zealand.

Page-turning magazines also dramatically save on print costs in the form of ink, paper, distribution and postage. At a conservative estimate, savings on print publishing are upwards of 90%. This includes the thousands of copies publishers have to distribute to current and potential advertisers as well as the thousands of overseas subscribers with their wafer-thin profit margins.

Factor in the obvious environmental advantages as well, and the digital edition formula could well be the rescue plan for publishers as we move forward.