New challenges and opportunities in the magazine publishing industry

No doubt, the world is moving and changing faster and harder than ever. New technologies have been forcing us to make changes in our lifestyles, workspaces, industries for many years now, and this is no different for the magazine publishing industry, there are a lot of challenges and opportunities we need to face. 

Keeping readers engaged

Processes automation and digitalization have changed the way we communicate, educate, inform, and entertain ourselves. And the state of the digital publishing industry is evolving. Nowadays, writers and publishers alike have to experiment with new tools, ideas and ways to stay relevant. 

And staying relevant among so much information that floods all digital channels is maybe one of the strongest difficulties that the magazine publishing industry faces, and probably anyone who wants to get noticed. 

People’s lives are fast-paced and always busy, in addition to the exponentially increasing supply of content, makes it even more difficult to stay relevant to users than ever before, such thing happens all the time in poland, in sites like filmy porno and such. it’s difficult to keep ahead.

Nevertheless, the industry continues to grow and there is plenty of room to innovate and stay connected with our audience. On one hand, many people are still making the transition from print to digital media, such as subscribers, partners, or people who are familiar with our magazines and find our magazines as a trustworthy source of information. 

These people can find it overwhelming to find a story or a digital media they can trust, so they prefer to stay with the publishers that have accompanied them for so long and provided them with useful and valuable information. 

Format innovation

Most publishers have evolved from print to e-books, online magazines, audiobooks, podcasts, blogs, and other products and vehicles for delivery like apps, and now, voice-enabled devices. 

Besides, readers no longer have the same reading habits and it has been proven that digital reading can be more extenuating than reading on paper. Therefore, the writing and publishing strategies have had to evolve as well. 

Written pieces are now shorter, with a more simple and universal vocabulary and integrating hypertext and multimedia content such as filmy erotyczne. People are more attracted to visual content such as images, videos, infographics, etc. to complement the text. 

Moreover, it is now vital to provide channels for additional information within the text such as links or other resources, to eliminate things that could make the piece harder to read. For example, it was normal to see references and quotations in magazines to explain certain aspects of the text. However, digitalization allows us to directly reference these resources with links so that the user can dig deeper into the subject if desired. 

From local barriers to global reach

A big opportunity for the magazine publishing industry is that while in the print version you were limited to a certain print run, in the digital world the barriers are reduced since anyone with a device and connection to the internet can have access to your content. 

This comes hand in hand with a strong digital marketing strategy, to help you succeed on the web. Newspapers and other publications like the New York Times, The New Yorker, Financial Times, and Vice have all acquired marketing agencies to help them better serve their audience and advertisers.

Publishers should consider new models of partnership with the platforms that people use most. Tech companies like Google, Facebook, and others are investing heavily in content and engagement strategies. Some efforts will benefit the publishing industry. For example, Google is investing in the Google News Initiative, intending to help news organizations and journalists thrive on the web as well as fighting fake news. 

Using technology to our advantage

Making the transition from print to digital can be difficult and very challenging, especially for conservative publishers. However, many digital tools have come to make our lives easier. 

Analytics products can now provide publishers with transparent audience insights such as demographics, engagement scores for each article on a site, etc. By allowing publishers to see how engaged its audience was with an article and then providing them with the ability to dive deeper into the data that makes up that engagement score, the easier it will be for publishers to determine how different types of content perform on their site, and how to tailor their content to better fit the audience preferences. 

Furthermore, demographics are very valuable for advertisers, which still maintain a very important role in the magazine publishing industry. In addition to demographics, knowing what a particular demographic of your audience is interested in and engaging with on your site is becoming more necessary to secure advertisers. 

Traditional publishers were used to selling spaces in their publications to advertisers. Now, advertisers do not want space, they are looking for an audience. They are looking for people with certain purchase intent, income segment, location, age, or other factors. 

Technology and analytics tools will help us obtain the information that advertisers are looking for, as well as help us understand our audiences and the content they want. In this way, we will be able to provide our readers with the subjects they are interested in, to create brand loyalty and engagement and also, to continue being the relevant media that advertisers are still willing to pay for. 

If we are aware of these new challenges and opportunities in the magazine publishing industry, we will be able to evolve, improve, and succeed in today’s fast-changing world. 

3 publishers that are succeeding in the coronavirus pandemic

The publishing industry was already going through a difficult time before the pandemic arrived, but something is true, the coronavirus crisis has brought out the best in all of us. Making us bring our creative selves to life and thinking of new ways to redefine the market. These are some news and publishing companies who are succeeding in finding new content formats to connect with their audiences during the coronavirus pandemic. 

The Washington Post The Washington Post is one of the most established news media companies in America and they had been struggling to connect with the younger audiences for a long time. Since, they hired Dave Jorgenson, a 29-year-old video producer, to create audio-visual content for the creative video team to bring in younger viewers. 

Now, during the pandemic, the TikTok account has reached new heights for the Post. Created with the tagline “We are a Newspaper”, appealing to the app’s audience, and according to Jorgenson’s words “I thought it would be funny to approach the account as if my parents or grandparents created it”. 

@washingtonpost

👍👍👍👍👍👍👎👎👎👎👍👍👍👍👎👎👎👎👍👍👍👍👍😄😄😄😄😄

♬ Bebe – V.A.

The Post’s TikTok account currently has close to 550,000 followers and more than 23 million likes. Although normally the TikToks would feature journalists playing funny situations on their day to day roles, nowadays Dave Jorgenson is the main director, producer, and lead role, inside his quarantined set, aka his home. 

BuzzFeed is another media company engaging with a younger audience through social media. The WP is in the process of hiring three “teen ambassadors” who will create news content for TikTok and Instagram. The ambassadors were originally going to cover the 2020 presidential election, however, they will most likely cover COVID-19 as well, said Sara Yasin, director of the news curation.

This is just one example of how brands can follow different paths and experiment with new tones to get closer to diverse types of audiences. 

The Economist 

In January, The Economist decided to launch a podcast entirely dedicated to cover the 2020 U.S presidential election. 

Now, podcasts are booming, they are the new radio stations for people, to listen in the car, while watching roksa videos, at the office or while cooking, people like them and listen because they offer valuable and creative audio content in almost every subject known to man, for free or at a very low cost. Besides, it doesn’t have to represent a large investment or to be a big production. 

“Doing podcasts doesn’t mean you have to do ‘Dirty John’ (the popular Los Angeles Times true-crime podcast). Just get your sports guys out there to do a quick little Saturday show. If you embrace it, it will work”, said Rob Connelly, director of digital audio at The Economist. 

In their podcast and newsletter called “Checks and Balance”, the magazine aims to provide their audience with specialized analysis and a global view of democracy in America. Each week, the host, John Prideaux, the magazine’s U.S. editor, speaks with Charlotte Howard, New York bureau chief and energy and commodities editor, and Jon Fasman, Washington correspondent to deliver a roundup of the magazine’s best election coverage in each week’s newsletter and focus on a specific theme shaping up in the race in its podcast. 

Tampa Bay Times 

First of all, newsletters are one of the biggest drivers in converting readers into subscribers, since they have become a way to inform readers and give them a compromise-free trial of our journalist work. 

Many media companies produce several newsletters covering different topics to reach a wide variety of their readers’ mailboxes. The Tampa Bay Times’ most popular newsletter is “DayStarter” which surprisingly used to be a weekly automated email. 

However, the Times’ saw the opportunity during the coronavirus pandemic to give a human voice to DayStarter and get closer to their readers. Despite their usual weekly schedule, when the coronavirus news started taking over the headlines, DayStarter began to include those stories in a section and delivering headlines six days a week. And in response to the disheartening coronavirus news out there, the Times began to share a “daily dose of relief,” which could include a photograph of a cute animal.

Since changing the newsletter, the subscriber list has grown to 100,000 subscribers and Bassinger said the number continues to increase as people are looking for trustworthy coronavirus information. Because of that, the Times has seen a 10 percent subscriber increase, a 30 percent open rate increase, and a 60 percent click-through rate increase.

Conclusion 

It is now more important than ever to understand that the need for professional journalism isn’t over and that it will never be shadowed with fake news or by all of the shallow information we can find on the internet. 

On the contrary, people require reliable sources of information, especially after we have seen since the coronavirus outbreak the actual threat that fake or scandalous news poses to our mental and physical health. 

Our work as publishers is still of vital importance, we only need to change the way we deliver this information to fit the current times and our current and everchanging audiences’ needs. 

2020 Trends in the magazine publishing industry

This year has been a game-changer for all of us. A pandemic has come to reshape everything we had foreseen for the years to come.  Therefore, companies, governments, individuals, and every industry have been forced to adapt quickly to new tendencies. Therefore, the magazine publishing industry is enduring some changes as well, which is why we are reviewing a few of the most important trends for this 2020.

Data Analytics

Many industries have been developing new and more advanced technologies to analyze and understand people’s behavior online, these data collection tools are one of the modern times gold mines. And the pandemic has shed new light on the importance of collecting data to get a deeper understanding of their audiences.

Ever since the coronavirus spread and the quarantine started, consumer behavior has shifted completely in just a couple of months, throwing many companies off balance. The publishing industry is now dealing with a whole new audience and their different spending habits, work schedules, and many other concerns.

In a recent survey performed by Havas Media, half of those surveyed said they are watching more TV and streaming more video with the free time on their hands. This behavior is most common among those aged 25 to 34, but the trend crosses all demographics, even those in the 54-to-65 range.

And the changes are happening swiftly, raising concerns whether these movements are going to last long enough for advertisers and publishers to devote themselves to them. However, many experts have said that a pandemic is long enough for behavior to turn into a habit.

All the more reason for print and digital publishers to improve their ability to track consumers during this pivotal time. Publishers that can learn what their new audience does (or doesn’t), will be able to communicate that to advertisers and potential partners in a more effective way and will stand in a better position comparing to the companies who don’t.

Advertisers and Publishers working closely

The core of media, especially in the publishing industry, has always been to find innovative ways to present information.

On the other hand, in present times, the sources of information have multiplied exponentially with digital media, making it even more vital to experiment and create high-quality content that can differentiate itself from the torrent of information and be meaningful for our readers.

For example, Buzzfeed and Business Insider have found that channeling their data and findings to brands has helped them craft their messages in a way that is appealing to their audiences. Buzzfeed in this case noticed people’s recent interest in entertaining content that became an escape from all the terrifying and overwhelming pandemic news.

They realized that readers were switching their attention from watching Netflix hits like the dating reality series Love Is Blind to Tiger King (whose tagline is “Murder, Mayhem, Madness”). And the publisher shared that observation with potential partners, including alcohol brands marketing toward those at home.

And when the content moves, so do advertisers. These alliances are vital both for publishers and advertisers to fully reach the consumers. “The ones that we see resonating are those publishers and brands that are listening to consumers and being mindful and helpful during this time. [Readers] are not looking for a 20-minute meal—they want to bake bread,” said Cynthia Kent Machata, head of planning at Havas Media Group.

High Quality and Differentiated content

Although this point has been a trend for quite some time now, it is still crucial for publishers to consider. We cannot rely completely on advertising revenue to sustain the industry, because there is a tendency to put journalistic excellence aside to give more room to advertisements.

Our consumers these days want to educate and inform themselves with reliable information, but also from the sources that show they care about the reader more than they care about ads. The money is important but if we prioritize it instead of the quality of our content, the readers are not going to have another choice but to leave. And with them, the advertisers.

Those that invest in “high-quality,” “differentiated” content will convince readers that journalism is worth paying for, said Ken Doctor, a media business analyst. “Reader revenue only becomes the dominant force if you earn it,” he said.

And there is no doubt that the industry has risen to the public’s standards, as they have spent the past few months in quarantine giving the best kind of content to their audience, even reducing the paywalls for people to access more information for free.

Media organizations have said they’re working faster than ever to move products from ideation to execution. Within days after safer-at-home orders went into effect, many media businesses turned their in-person events into virtual conferences and webinars. They’ve also created new products to interest advertisers and consumers.

Readers, in turn, are indicating they’re open to paying for content. Companies like The Atlantic, and the New York Times which prioritized covering the pandemic, reported that they attracted record-high numbers of subscribers in the first four weeks of coronavirus coverage. And the NYT website as well as The Washington Post have seen their traffic rise even more than in the 2016 presidential election.

It is clear that the following weeks, and months, will be crucial to publishers to retain subscribers, visitors, and readers as they continue to face an unsteady advertising industry. So, maintaining their resilience will be crucial if they are to come out of the pandemic alive.