iPad Magazine Readers to Publishers: More, Please
After an initial wave of excitement about iPad magazines, some publishers have dialed back their enthusiasm. But the readers who have actually downloaded them like them quite a bit. — So says a survey commissioned by a publishers' trade group …
Context & Ripple Effects
The tablet-magazine experiment began with high hopes — MarketWatch called digital editions 'publishing's last hope' back in April 2010 — but the build-out has stalled on economics, not demand. Apple and publishers spent late 2010 deadlocked over iTunes subscription terms ([[a:1189231]]), and by spring 2011 Condé Nast had tapped the brakes on iPad editions for its full magazine lineup, while AOL's Editions app launched to poor reviews in August.
Against that backdrop, a survey commissioned by a publishers' trade group lands awkwardly for the retrenchers: the people who actually downloaded iPad magazines report liking them quite a bit. The gap between reader satisfaction and publisher commitment suggests the problem is the business model — distribution terms and cost per edition — rather than the product itself.
First-order effects
- Publishers that pulled back, most visibly Condé Nast, now face evidence their retreat contradicts reader demand — the constraint is the Apple subscription standoff and per-edition costs, not audience appetite.
- The trade group's survey hands publishers negotiating leverage in their unresolved dispute with Apple over iTunes subscription terms and pricing control.
Second-order effects
- Publishers that kept investing in iPad editions gain share and reader goodwill as bigger rivals like Condé Nast slow-walk theirs, pressuring the laggards to re-enter or cede the tablet shelf.
- Apple faces renewed pressure to soften its subscription terms, since every publisher defection shrinks the premium content that makes the iPad — which was driving the bulk of tablet web traffic as of October 2011 — more attractive.
Third-order effects
- If reader enthusiasm holds while publisher economics don't, tablet magazines consolidate around whichever platform offers workable billing and subscriber relationships — making platform gatekeepers, not editors, the decisive force in digital publishing formats.
- The pattern points toward publishers treating apps as one channel among several rather than a standalone bet, with format decisions subordinated to who controls the customer relationship.
The trend: Tablet publishing is being shaped less by reader appetite than by platform economics, as publishers weigh Apple's subscription terms against demonstrated reader demand.