When iPad was launched sometime this year, it was great news for magazine publishers as they saw it as a channel to tackle declining subscriptions with this innovative new source. The iOS-powered iPad would also permit publishers to unleash their creative side and set up improved, interactive features that could not be attained with conventional print.
According to numbers accessible from the Audit Bureau of Circulations, however, magazine publishers’ hopes rescue in the form if iPad is shattered as every renowned has seen a decline in purchase rate.
Glamour, for example, sold only 4,301 copies in its debut month. Sales then dropped 20% in October and another 20% in November, landing at 2,775. GQ sold 11,000 copies in November, down from an average of 13,000 per month between May and October. Sales of Vanity Fair slid to 8,700 copies in November from an average of 10,500 from August through October.
Men’s Health, which averaged sales of just 2,800 copies over the spring, sold 2,000 copies each month in September and October. Wired, which had a monster month when it debuted in June with over 100,000 downloads, dropped to an average of 31,000 between July and September and an average of 21,500 between October and November.
Many believe that magazine publishers have failed to take full advantage of the iOS platform thus far, having simply transferred print versions of their magazines to the iPad with minimal trimmings. The tools to create content that is original, interactive and truly unique are clearly available, and the iPad may be the ideal vehicle with which to deliver this great new content — but the vision still appears to be seriously lacking.
No comments:
Post a Comment