What drives innovation in the magazine industry? This was the central question in last Monday’s webinar organized by FIPP – the worldwide magazine media association. The webinar delved into current digital usage trends in the magazine industry, drawing on The Global Digital Media Trendbook 2013. With these trends, comes a wealth of opportunities. I will provide a short outline of these here.
1: Real growth is seen in digital
As we all know, print magazine circulation and advertising figures have stagnated in many parts of the world, while digital magazine revenues are growing and will probably continue to do so. Globally, mobile advertising spend is expected to go through the roof in 2016, reaching $37 billion according to some estimates.
2: Tablets are the most popular devices
Mobile is by all means not yet entirely pervasive but its growth shows no signs of stopping. According to the table below, desktop PCs will see a decline in purchases in the next 12 months, while smartphone and tablet purchases will rise with 3 and 8 percent respectively. FIPP therefore recommends that publishers optimize their content for mobile devices. And since optimizing content for different mobile devices and operating systems is our job at imgZine, we couldn’t agree more.
3: Publish for more platforms
From 2015 onwards, industry analysts expect iPads to lose considerable market share. Therefore, publishers should not only develop content experiences for iOS anymore, but also for Android, Windows, and other operating systems. And let’s not even think about all those new devices, such as the phablet. It is more important than ever for consumers to find your content on the platform or device of their preference.
On the map below, the orange patterns (‘hot in mobile’) represent the variety of devices. Orange means that at least 75 percent of a population is mobile penetrated and less than 40 percent has Internet access. In most cases, however, there is 100 percent mobile penetration. This mainly is because today’s users usually have more than one mobile handset. When looking to Africa, and a part of Asia, however, mobile is often preferred above desktop platforms because some people would have to share desktop computers or simply lack the space. So, instead, they use their own mobile handset.
4: Video will rule the web
In 2015, there will be an explosion of Internet video traffic. An important reason is that advertisers want to
put their advertising alongside content people want – and video, as we all know, reigns supreme.
5: Add mobile e-commerce to your strategy
Mobile e-commerce and in-app purchases are rising steadily. This growth is caused by the busy lifestyles of
consumers. So, if you show them a beautiful pair of shoes, give them the possibility to buy it immediately.
6: The web will become even more social
Time spent on social media is set to increase, enticing publishers and
brands to leverage the power of the social web to increase their reach.
Stay on top of the latest trends
These trends indicate that every brand or content owner needs to embrace the reality of a fast-changing media landscape and optimize content for mobile devices. Explore our digital magazine software to see how you can reach consumers through different devices – with apps that are optimized for e-commerce, social media, and video content.
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