Digital magazines on the up

Digital magazines are getting high marks from people who receive them, according to a new survey by Mediamark Research and Intelligence for Texterity.

Overall, the 2008 Digital Magazine Reader Survey found that 89% of readers were "satisfied" or "very satisfied" with their digital magazines, with 90% reading the digital edition the same week that they receive it.

In terms of advertising, 90% of readers took some kind of action after seeing a product or service advertised in a digital magazine. Seventy-eight percent of digital business magazine readers said they rely on the magazines to do their job better. Recipients also gave high marks to the magazines for being environmentally friendly and convenient, including their text-based search capability.

No surprise--digital magazine readers are embracing digital technology, with 76% saying they prefer to contact a company via its Web site (versus the phone or mail).
The most popular ways to read the magazines are on a desktop (74%) or laptop (61%). A small but growing group (6%) reads digital magazines on the iPhone.

Talksport launches digital magazine

This is interesting. You'd think that with all that reach, radio stations could engage with their audience 24/7 already.

Apparently not.

The digital magazine newsstand (part 2)

The Barnes & Noble Web site, www.bn.com, is teaming up with Zinio to sell digital magazine subscriptions alongside the print formats. The deal covers over 1,000 magazine titles, offering discounts of up to 90% off the newsstand price. The companies are also offering single-copy digital sales of 12,000 back issues from hundreds of titles.

And actually, its the potential sales from hundreds of thousands of single copies at a low price, rather than a few subscriptions, that will have Barmes and Noble salivating. Late into the digital game, they've been looking at a way of getting into the "Long Tail" business and hey presto, its been delivered.

Not the last experiment in this field, I think.

Investment goes digital

I had a look at this earlier in the week (Thanks Ed for the heads up) and its very, very slick. River have done some great stuff with customer magazines for Honda already and I expect this will be a growing sector this year.

Fund management company Gartmore Investment Management is launching a new digital magazine, Investment Perspective, produced by River Publishing.
Gartmore is launching the title to keep its professional investors abreast of its new investment products, while providing current information about the financial markets.The digital magazine will be mailed to Gartmore's network of professional advisers on a monthly basis, which will be accompanied by a print version of the magazine.


The title will also feature video and audio segments from Gartmore's team of fund managers.

Bet those will be a gas.