With Chris Anderson’s long awaited book about the “Free” business model to be released very soon, some fresh interesting figures actually tells something else. A few years back analysts would have doomed any web-based media charging their users for access. Users got used to getting everything for free on the Internet. The business model consisting of a free stream of news focusing on getting high traffic in order to charge more for online ads has so far been online media’s most used attempt. But quality digital issues seem to pull in the other direction.
According to the Audit Bureau of Circulations, the number of paid subscriptions to digital editions of magazines has leapt since 2007. By the end of last year, the number had just about doubled from 56 to 110 titles reporting paid digital subs of nearly 1 million – up from less than 500,000 in 2007.
The growth is expected to continue, as American Broadcasting Company (ABC) back in March expanded the definition of digital editions to include electronic products (that you pay for – not the free ones) that share the same basic identity as the source magazine even if they’re not exact replicas of it. Media Week has more about this topic.
For starting up a digital issue, Zmags allows scalability and is easy to integrate. Any kind of subscriber management service can be integrated with your digital issue, so only readers with valid login can read your content.