The Other Digital Switchover: why newspapers and 'free-form' websites are no longer enough for consumers and advertisers

Devin B. Holmes, COO, YUDU Media explains why media owners and content providers are turning to digital editions to combine the best of offline and online

18/06/2007, Just 15 years ago, it was difficult to imagine that we'd consume our news, information and entertainment via anything other than TV, radio and print. But the Internet created not only a new publishing and broadcasting medium; it also changed forever our relationship with information and entertainment.

No longer are we prepared to wait for TV news broadcasts, or wait until tomorrow to read about yesterday's events in a newspaper. Today, consumers demand infotainment any time, day or night, from wherever they are in the world. This shift in behaviour has had an enormous negative impact on print publications, which remain in decline. Inevitably, advertising spend has followed.

But online publications aren't having it all their own way. They command far less for advertising real estate; banner ads simply don't generate the same visual impact as large ads in print publications.

And while consumers may favour the immediacy of the online world, they like the linear, page-by-page format of print. According to EyeTrack 07, a study conducted by The Poynter Institute into how consumers read print and online news, 75 per cent of people are methodical in how they read publications. Many of us prefer to read pages from top to bottom and in a full, two-page view, the traditional presentation style of print media.

So, how do media owners and publishers solve this conundrum? Simply put, by combining the benefits of the offline and digital worlds and giving consumers a choice of format, using digital editions.

A digital edition is an electronic replica of a print publication that can include video and other interactive features, combining the benefits of online and offline formats in a cost-effective way. Digital editions allow media owners and publishers to reach new audiences across the world without increasing print costs, as an unlimited number of copies can be distributed globally at no extra charge, offering an impressive return on investment.

Consumers get an enhanced reading experience, with interactive multi-media pages, while also letting them read the publications in the familiar, page-by-page manner familiar from offline titles. This also negates one of the biggest drawbacks of traditional free-form websites - readers will always miss pages that may have been of interest to them because, inevitably, they don't read every page of a website. And how can they search for information they don't know exists?

Digital editions are consumed in the same way as print publications, which means the reader browses through every page, but with the advantage of being able to interact with it as with a traditional website.

Publishers and media owners can increase advertising revenue from advertisers, who can place a full-page advertisement in a digital edition and still get a high level of page views from consumers who read page by page. This is not possible from a website - many pages won't be seen and full-page advertising is not accepted by readers. Full-page advertisements in digital editions have the same visual impact as full-page print advertisements - but are far more effective because they can be made interactive and engaging for the reader using rich media such as video streaming and Flash.

Readers can also click through directly to an advertiser's e-commerce website and make a purchase while the advertisement is fresh in the mind.

There is now technology on the market that puts media owners and publishers firmly in control of the digital edition production process. Companies such as YUDU Media allow them to create in minutes their own digital editions of a magazine or newspaper using a professional, online, on-demand publishing application.

Digitial editions don't have to damage revenue from paid-for subscriptions. Today's on-demand publishing software includes comprehensive and bespoke DRM tools that allow owners to keep tight control over their digital editions. Rules can be set to determine who can view, the number of views per reader; the number of different computers the publication can be viewed on; the number of 'guests' the reader can show the publication to etc.

Consumers today expect engaging, interactive content, 24x7, in a format that they're familiar and happy with. If can't get what they want from one publisher or content provider, they know they can get it from another.

Smart companies realise that they cannot afford to lose consumers to competitors simply because they didn't offer what they wanted - a choice of formats. US newspaper, The Boston Globe, gave its readers the choice to take the publication in digital edition format and its readers responded overwhelmingly. The publication increased its circulation by 145 per cent.

Considering that digital editions actually increase readership and can actually pay for themselves in advertising revenue alone, they are fast proving themselves to be not so much a luxury as a must-have for media owners and content providers.