Josh Gordon reports that the BPA is testing new metrics for digital-only magazine audits. This has to be a good thing: I’ve been banging on about my belief that digital magazines have a great future because they offer things that simply aren’t replicated in a conventional publication website. If the BPA can find ways to quantify the level of engagement from readers of a digital publication, it’s going to help advertisers get a much better handle on whether a digital publication is the best place to allocate some of their hard-fought advertising budget.

Tags: Digital Magazines, Misc Marketing

Having taken the unusual approach of launching a new publication without an editor in place (we are told they’ve had some freelance help), ElectronicSpecifier has announced the appointment of John Taylor as editor of their Digital Magazine.

John has a long history in the electronics industry, having previously been Editor of What’s new in Electronics and Managing Editor of Electronics Times, Editor of Electronics Manufacturing Products (EMP) and most recently freelance Editor of Electronics magazine. John has also had a spell working in PR, allowing him to see the industry from both sides of the fence.

With a circulation of 66,000 ElectronicSpecifier Digital Magazine has one of the largest distributions of any title in the European electronics media. It was also one of the first to make use of video content inside the publication. The appointment of a recognised editor is another step forward as this new title tries to disrupt the more established publications in our industry.

Tags: Digital Magazines, Editors, electronicspecifier, Online

Most marketing managers view the breathless excitement when some publishers talk about digital magazines with cynicism: “They just want to cut their cost of distribution,” is a common response. I’m more enthusiastic – of course publishers are being driven towards digital publication, but if digital publication is the only way to save the magazine format then I’m very grateful to the new format.

Recently I saw an article on the Folio website about a new survey called "The Case of Advertising in Interactive Digital Magazines," by Josh Gordon, founder of Smarter Media Sales. The research, which had a respectable sample of more than 5000 respondents suggests that digital magazines may be a better vehicle for advertising than websites. Some of the key findings include:

• 70% were less likely to ignore display ads in digital editions than on Web sites
• 71% said ads on digital editions were “less intrusive” than Web sites
• 79% said ads in digital editions were “more credible” than on Web sites
• 82% believed that digital magazines were "more engaging" than Web sites with similar content
• 71% said that digital titles were “more trustworthy” than websites
• 85% said digital magazines were more easy to read than websites

Although I don’t see any publishers throwing away their website to concentrate on digital magazines. Although digital magazines typically hold the readers attention for 3 to 4 x the average time spent on a single website, in most markets websites generate more impressions. It will also be interesting to see if the results are due to a honeymoon effect, with readers excited about the new format. Despite these reservations, I believe that the results are a real endorsement of digital magazines and hope that it encourages publishes to sell digital titles with confidence.

Tags: Digital Magazines, Misc Marketing, Research

Cassidy Publications has launched a new digital title, Emcore, that focuses on embedded software development, and single- & multi-core microprocessors and microcontrollers. The new publication enters a market at a time of significant change, with Embedded Systems Design Europe having recently switched to a digital format.
It’s early days for the new title, with the first issue really acting as a proof of concept. Developed and launched with little fanfare, no advertising has been sold for the first issue, although I expect that there will be advertisers ready to hand over cash for space in the second issue which will be published towards the end of April.
Given the pedigree of the editor, Phil Ling, it’s no surprise that the magazine includes some of his in-depth articles, providing a degree of editorial independence that some might say is lost in those titles that rely prmiarily on contributed material for their technical articles. Information about circulation isn’t yet available, although I’d expect Cassidy Publications to plan to grow the circulation over a number of issues.
Personally I’m delighted that another publisher has the confidence to launch a title at a time when advertising budgets are still tight. Emcore pretty much goes head-to-head with ESD Europe, and it will be interesting to see how a small entrepreneurial publishing house like Cassidy will compete against the UBM giant.

Tags: Cassidy, Digital Magazines, Emcore, UK

At Embedded World I was able to have a chat with a few publishers about digital magazines. Digital distribution is still a new technology, and it was great to get some hard facts that appear dispel a couple of myths about digital mags:

1: People only read a couple of pages of digital titles

The facts simply don’t bear this out. ElectronicSpecifier reports an average of 23 pages per visit, whilst EDN Europe generated an impressive average visit duration of 7 minutes 46 seconds for the February issue. Clearly readers are doing much more than simply flicking through the first couple of pages.

2: People don’t really want digital magazines

Elektronik i Norden has offered a digital version of the publication since 2007. Rather than trying to switch readers from print to digital distribution, the publication believes that the digital format enhances the experience for the reader, pointing to the increasing number of readers who have the publication sent to their home address. These readers say they browse the print edition at home, and then will download content they need for their job from the digital edition when at work. This approach has resulted in stunning stats: the February issue has received over 5600 unique visitors, and the January issue 6045 unique visitors and 17421 total visits, which probably makes Elektronik i Norden the most-read European digital magazine in our industry. Perhaps one of the best ways to promote your digital magazine is to distribute a print version!

3: Adverts don’t work in digital magazines

Adverts definitely work better than online banners! For example in the January edition of EDN Europe, one advert on page 7 has achieved 168 clicks. With 3512 total opens of the publication, this represents a click rate of almost 5% – about 20 times better than the average return from a banner or skyscraper.

Of course this doesn’t mean that everything is rosy in the world of digital magazines. Despite some titles such as Elektronik i Norden achieving impressive statistics, most tiles achieve between 10% and 20% open rates, and the large number of unopened digital copies is probably the biggest problem facing publishers that are attracted to the low cost of digital distribution. If the open rates could be increased to 30-40% then we’d start seeing some pretty respectable figures for readership. I’m optimistic that this will happen eventually, and am hopeful that better use of digital media’s capabilities, careful control of circulation and more convenient readers will drive higher open rates. If this doesn’t work, however, perhaps the inevitable decline in the availability of printed magazines might push engineers to adopt digital titles.

Tags: Digital Magazines, Digital Magazines and Print Publications

EP&Dee (Electronic Products & Design Eastern Europe) has added digital distribution and has started a push to grow its digital circulation. The title currently has a circulation of just over 6000, and the move to digital will help increase this without the high cost of print and postage that is incurred with international distribution. It will be interesting to see how the publication develops – the title is probably the only one to establish a significant footprint across several Eastern European countries, and the digital edition should grow this significantly, as well as allowing growth beyond its current reach across South Eastern Europe.

Tags: Digital Magazines, Eastern Europe

Firmware has launched a digital version of the magazine, making Inware Edizioni the first publisher in our sector to launch a digital title. I’m told that there is an ongoing commitment to the print edition, but clearly the move to digital makes sense. I’m a firm believer in the benefits of a magazine format over websites for browsing and educating readers on new approaches and technologies, and am convinced that digital distribution will be the norm in a few years.

Tags: Digital Magazines, Italy

After the decision by EE Times Group (formerly TechInsights) to hold on to ESD Europe, rather than include it in the recent sale of EE Times Europe and Microwave Engineering Europe, I was disappointed to see the recent decision to move to all-digital distribution and cut frequency. Initially a 10-issue 2010 editorial calendar was produced, then an announcement was posted on Embedded.com/Europe and a new media pack issued telling of the change of strategy.

The European website www.embedded-europe.com has been closed, with all content integrated into www.embedded.com. Although I can see the logic of this move it’s disappointing that European visitors to the site will have to search for local content rather than the site using geo-targeting to highlight European stories along with the global content, nor is the site offering a URL with a European-orientated feed of news. I’m told we can expect this to be added in the future.

The magazine has also switched from 10 issues to 5 issues in 2010, with entirely digital circulation, although I’m told that the editorial content will be specific to the European edition with minimal re-use of material from the US ESD. The layout will be changed completely, moving to a screen-optimised format on the Nxtbook platform similar to recent EE Times special editions. The layout is nice – similar to ED Europe in some ways, but offering full page adverts as well as leaderboard and MPU fractional ads. It’s great to see a publisher recognise the need to optimise the layout for the readers, whilst allowing advertisers to use familiar formats with high visual impact. We’re also promised special editions, which will be driven by sponsors.

The digital magazine circulation is a little confusing. The new media pack promises:

The digital issue goes to over 100,000 subscribers and will be seen by over 50,000 European web users.

25,000 ESD global digital subscribers via email link.
30,000 ESD Europe subscribers via email link.
50,000 EETimes and TechOnline European subscribers via email link.
50,000 unique European visitors to Embedded.com every month.

So in addition to the European subscribers, anyone currently receiving the digital version of the US title who is based outside of Europe and the US will get ESD Europe – i.e. they’ll get both the US and European digital issues. The EE Times and TechOnline European database will also be used to deliver unrequested copies, and there will be links to the digital title on Embedded.com.

So what circulation should we assume for the title? To me the circulation we can be sure is really valuable are just the 30K requested European subscribers. Although there may be other high-quality recipients, at this stage they’ve not requested the title and it remains to be seen whether the move to a large headline circulation is clever move, or whether it will just dilute the quality of the existing ESD Europe database.

ESD Europe has also quietly slipped in a rate increase (full page rates were $2100 last year, and are now $3000: an increase of about 40%). The extra circulation might go some way to justifying this increase, and there are no surcharges for flash or video adverts, but most advertisers I know value digital magazine less highly than print.

The European Embedded email newsletters will increase in frequency, appearing twice a week, which will hopefully increase loyalty to the brand, as well as ensuring the database is well maintained.

It will be interesting to see the success of the new publication. In merging ESDE and ESE, It’s not clear to me why there is value in circulating a European title outside of Europe, but if the format is as good as the EE Times specials, and with Colin Holland remaining in the role of Editor in Chief, I believe that the quality of the editorial and the easy-to-read layout will ensure good readership. From the advertising viewpoint, TechInsights acquired a significant number of UK-orientated advertisers who presumably will be unenthusiastic about the broader reach of the title, and may choose other UK, whilst global advertisers might question why they need to advertise in both the US and European brands to reach people outside of these two geographies. As a believer in the eventual move of most magazines in our industry from print to digital, however, I’m hopeful that ESD Europe will be a successful title.

Tags: Advertising, CMP, Digital Magazines, ED Europe, EE Times, Electronics, Email, ESD, ESE, Europe, IET, Newsletters, Online, TechInsights, UK, Video

A couple of recent announcements demonstrate that large publishers – particularly in the US – are working to create better digital magazines. Hearst has teamed up with Skiff to create a “magazine e-reader”, whilst several publishers including Condé Nast, Hearst, Meredith, News Corporation and Time Inc.have joined forces to define a “storefront" – i.e. a consistent portal for accessing digital magazines.

The fact that publishers are putting resources into ensuring the technology for reading electronic magazines develops rapidly is great news. I’m also much less worried about the impending battle between publishers and digital media companies such as Apple and Amazon, provided that there is a way to distribute controlled circulation titles. In fact digital distribution may not only provide the valuable information about who has read a magazine, but would also allow other readers to get copies even if they fall outside the terms of control (assuming that publishers do continue to manage their terms of control!). Advertisers and publishers can then argue about whether the additional readers justify a higher rate, although hopefully everyone understands that controlled circulation is worth A LOT more than uncontrolled circulation.

One thing, however, does worry me. Although it’s not surprising the main focus of activity is in the USA, I really don’t want publishers using delivery platforms, whether “storefronts” or e-readers to compete. I’d like the publications with the best content to win, rather than those from the publishing houses with the financial resources to invest in delivery technology. This has to be a particular concern in Europe, as many publishers – particularly in the electronics media – are relatively small companies. Having said this, I can’t see that any publisher is going to win by fragmenting the delivery systems: there is no way anyone would accept having to own multiple e-readers to allow them to read titles from different publishers that have chosen different hardware platforms. As long as the publishers strive to create the best content and make it available on all platforms, the hardware manufacturers work on producing the best e-readers, and the readers are allowed an unrestricted choice of publication and platform, then we could see a dramatic recovery in the financial fortunes of magazine publishers.

Tags: Digital Magazines, Misc Marketing, Online

2009 has been a dreadful year for publishers, and so I’m delighted that I’m going to end the year with a post about the launch of two new titles. ElectronicSpecifier will launch a monthly pan-European digital magazine in January and a French language title in February. There hasn’t been an announcement about a French website, but I’d confidently predict that unless the magazine is a failure, the site will follow fairly early in 2010.

Unsurprisingly both titles are planned to be “product books”, although I understand that the magazines will also include some industry news.

The launch of a pan-European digital title is easy to understand. ElectronicSpecifier has a strong pan-European list that will provide a circulation of more than 45,000 and a partnership with Hearst that could add another 20,000 readers. Their French list is just over 8500, which could increase to over 10,000 with Hearst’s data.  And of course once you have an editor for the website and a good database, the incremental cost of publishing a digital magazine is very low.

After the recent decisions by Reed and Groupe Tests that left the French market with just one magazine, the launch of a French title isn’t surprising. In fact I know of at least one other publisher with pretty advanced plans for a French print title.

The ElectronicSpecifier titles will use NxtBook as their technology platform. Although not quite matching Ceros, who I think is the industry leader in terms of the reader experience, NxtBook should provide a great platform for the magazines. Unsurprisingly multimedia adverts, including video, animation and sound will all be offered from the first issues.

I’m confident that these titles will prove successful. Firstly these titles are fundamentally low-cost, and I would expect advertising rates to be aggressive. The database has also proven itself to be effective, generating good open and response rates, even though the demographics are not as comprehensive as some other titles. And clearly the French title is entering a market desperate for more publications: in fact I’d say that this launch represents ElectronicSpecifier winning a race to announce a new French title.

ElectronicSpecifier has a clear advantage over digital versions of print titles: the magazine can be designed for on-screen reading and to work synergistically with the web. Replicating a print magazine digitally just doesn’t work, even on large high-resolution screens. Better layout will improve open rates: just look at the “designed for digital” Electronic Design Europe, which has outstanding open rates despite using a simple PDF format for distribution. We’ve not yet seen a product book specifically designed for digital, but I hope that ElectronicSpecifier have the confidence to get away from the format of product news in print titles. This format was designed to drive enquiries through the old bingo card system. In digital titles you just don’t need all the detail: if I’m looking for a product in a digital title all I need is a couple of sentences giving me the main facts about the product, and I’ll know immediately if I want to click through to the full story and datasheet.

I don’t, however, think that the recent flurry of digital titles means it’s all over for print – at least not yet. Open rates for digital titles are low, and few advertisers values a digital reader as highly as a print reader.

Over the next few years, however, e-book readers are going to improve dramatically from the pretty shambolic offerings that we have available in Europe. We’ll then have the standards fight – similar to Betamax against VHS. Eventually there will be one great e-book platform that frankly is better than carrying round a big pile of books and magazines. When this happens, the reading experience will be great, magazines will be delivered direct to your e-book reader, and open rates will rocket. It’s even possible that in the future a digital subscriber will be seen as more valuable than a print reader, although this is a long way off.

Tags: Advertising, Digital Magazines, Electronics, electronicspecifier, ESE, Europe, Online, Reed, Video

ED Europe is a purely digital publication. So does this mean print is dead?

Absolutely not. In my opinion print publications will never be redundant. We humans read for many reasons such as pleasure, education, information-gathering and business requirements and for many people there is considerable enjoyment in reading a well-written, well-designed magazine or newspaper that is traditionally printed. There is also for some a desire to own well-produced books that perhaps form part of a personal collection.

I see no future print scenario that will emulate Ray Bradbury’s novel, Fahrenheit 451. ….now there’s a book worth owning.

From a B2B information perspective I think traditional print and electronic media can co-exist. The only proviso I would mention is that free circulation B2B print publications face sharply escalating costs on paper, printing and postage and therefore it is financially logical that B2B media companies will increasingly use electronic media to reach existing and new audiences

What are the benefits your readers see from a magazine that is delivered digitally?

Convenient delivery to their computer desktop, easy storage for reference purposes, easy to print if required. Individual pages or the whole thing can be emailed to colleagues, customers, etc.

ED Europe is delivered only as a PDF, whereas most other titles have some online system with animated pages and an option to download a PDF. Why haven’t you offered an online reader?

Unlike many PDF-delivered publications that are really print publications that have been adapted for, or in some cases just shoved onto, computer screens, ED Europe was specifically designed for PDF delivery. This provides numerous advantages for recipients. It opens in a landscape format that fits computer screens. Readers do not have to zoom in to read it or scroll around the page trying to find the story they want. Reader navigation throughout the publication is quick and easy and because of some very smart compression techniques we can produce a 26-page edition with lots of colour graphics that goes out typically as a 3meg file.

Let’s not forget here that ED Europe was created back in 2005 so it’s not unreasonable to call it a pioneering success in digital B2B media terms. It has during that time won three major awards in the USA.

On the subject of Flash-related animations in digital publications Penton Media is fully aware of these and plans to make full use of them.

Can you explain the difference between writing for a print publication and writing for a purely digital title?

In the case of ED Europe, there really is no difference. Because of the way it is designed we can run short news stories, full-length technical features and opinion columns in exactly the same way as a traditional print publication.

Now ask me that question relative to writing directly online and that’s a very different journalistic proposition. Penton Media editors now write directly to websites and the way headlines and other related information is written has to be within certain parameters that suit web journalism.

So we now see a complete Penton Media portfolio where editors write for traditional print, digital and online media

ED Europe launched an HTML email newsletter. Why didn’t you simply create a shorter PDF magazine to cover the news? What are the advantages of the HTML delivery?

Three reasons for that. ED Europe’s NewsLine newsletters provide readers with a fast, convenient, easily absorbed information service. For Penton Media it has created an additional revenue source while also doing the valuable job of driving traffic to our websites.

You have been one of the pioneers of online video in the European electronics industry. Do you see video continuing to grow as a medium in our industry?

Penton Media are committed to online video in a big way and yes I do see the use of video as a B2B communication tool expanding. Penton Media has an Engineering TV department that works in conjunction with publications and editors to produce very high quality professional standard coverage. For me and many of my editorial, colleagues at Penton one of the major video innovations has been the way in which we report on exhibitions. To be able to shoot a three-minute interview with somebody that has been deeply involved in the development of new products and technology and have them explain it directly to our design engineering audiences has to be one of the most immediate and informative ways of communicating complex information.

In addition to our editorially created video coverage Penton Media is now looking at hosting vendor videos on our websites. Conceptually, these are videos produced by companies that want to promote their products and as such can considered as being a modern high-tech form of advertising. Penton Media will be hosting these videos for a fee and the number of weeks/months the video will appear for will depend on the level of fee paid.

What is the one thing you’d like to change about the way companies do PR in the electronics industry?

Generally speaking the successful PR executives and PR agencies do a pretty good job of presenting and distributing information to the media.

But while we are on the subject of PR agencies I will just release one particular bee-from-my-bonnet. PR agencies in a bid to do the best for their clients will often promote the use of editorial columns to publicise the client. And why not? Its a powerful form of promotion that contains that all important credibility ingredient called editorial integrity; although sometimes I wonder, and call me a tad cynical here if you wish, if the real attraction is more to do with the fact that editorial coverage is free.

Without going into a full scale, force 10 rant here let me put the point simply. There are agencies with foresight that appreciate magazines do need advertising income if they are to stay in business. Sadly, there are others that will soak up all the editorial support they can without thinking that in the long-term publications are a business and understandably need to turn a profit or otherwise face closure; a situation that benefits no publicity agencies.

If an industry feels there is a value to having B2B media circulating in its sector then it needs to consider supporting that media with advertising.

And let’s get one thing straight; I am certainly not talking here about a pay-to-play editorial approach. Clearly, that would ultimately denigrate the content of any journal and would not serve the interests of either readers or advertisers. What I am saying is that all industry clients and their agencies should recognise that in the long-term maintaining independent, well written and well produced business media is in everyone’s interests.

What do you enjoy doing in your spare time, when you’re not writing about electronics?

Wining and dining with family and friends, travelling in Spain, playing classical Spanish guitar (badly)

What’s your favourite gadget?

A corkscrew

Tags: Advertising, Awards, CIE, Clients, Digital Magazines, Digital Magazines and Print Publications, ED Europe, Editors, EiN, Electronics, Email, EPE, ESC, ESE, Europe, Interviews, Newsletters, Online, Penton, Spain, USA, Video