The folks at Wired showed off their version of a print replaced digital future for their magazine at the TED 2010 conference. Below is a video of the concept that was co-developed with Adobe. Other publishers like Time Warner, are also experimenting with digital distribution. More interesting and revealing,however, were some of the comments left by some of the readers. What side of the issue are you on as a printer?
Those of you who are laughing because you already read Wired on the wired.com website, are missing the point. Wired spends a lot of effort and money creating their print version, then paying to mail it to subscribers plus ship it to book stores and magazine stands. If they are going to replace that business model, it will on something lie the iPad. It’s only odd because it’s Wired. You’d think ALL Wired readers would be getting their Wired from the web site by now. Go figure, huh? It would be better to think of another title like Architectural Digest. It’s expensive to print and mail, just like Wired, and would benefit from audio and video. Print is dying. It is just a matter of time. It makes sense for any publisher to experiment with digital versions of their titles, now. They’ll learn a lot before it becomes mandatory.
Face it, print media. Unless you can come up with a compelling digital version of yourself, one that is ad-supported, and not behind a paywall, you’re going to FAIL! Print media has ALWAYS been ad-supported. Per-issue costs weren’t a source of revenue, they were a fiscal reality related to the costs of producing and distributing your print versions. Paper and printing costs, distribution costs, and retailing costs had to be paid. Now that you have a digital edition, there’s no longer any reason to pass these costs on to your customers, as you don’t have these costs. Imagining that your content has more perceived value than anyone else’s content, and thus is worth paying for is simply sheer folly, and anyone taking that course is bound to find themselves looking for gainful employment in the near future. Change or die!
Few thoughts for Chris Anderson:
- I guess the cost of this digital magazine is a relatively low -> will create a higher margin against paper prints
- Agree that changing from a paper format to an enhanced digital format
can be a +. The question is really whether this is a sufficient +. The
only benefits I would see would be to have enhanced content on a
particular subject.
People criticizing the initiative in this forum are just not
targeted customers as they do not want to pay any money for any
information, so obviously they do not see the benefits.
As last remark: paper is not dying. Actually we have never consumed
as much paper as today due to all the documentation, manuals, etc…
created to explain how software works. It’s more work for the printing
industry, but less revenues the newspaper business.
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