The future of the digital magazine

The Future of the Digital Magazine
How to develop the digital magazine
from a reader and advertiser point of view
TERESA
RYBERG
Master of Science Thesis
Stockholm, Sweden 2010
The Future of the Digital Magazine
How to develop the digital magazine
from a reader and advertiser point of view
TERESA
RYBERG
Master’s Thesis in Media Technology (30 ECTS credits)
at the Media Management Master Programme
Royal Institute of Technology year 2010
Supervisor was Christopher Rosenqvist, SSE
Examiner was Nils Enlund
TRITA-CSC-E 2010:140
ISRN-KTH/CSC/E--10/140-SE
ISSN-1653-5715
Royal Institute of Technology
School of Computer Science and Communication
KTH CSC
SE-100 44 Stockholm, Sweden
URL: www.kth.se/csc
Abstract: The future of the digital magazine - How to develop the
digital magazine from a reader and advertiser point of view
The magazine industry is making a transition towards digital media. With the hope to the
new generation tablet computers, like the iPad, the magazine industry wants to develop
digital magazines that can be consumed in a similar way as print magazines. This thesis
sets out to explore what the digital magazine should become. To do this I first explore the
specific values of print magazine and then the expectations on the future digital magazine.
In order to answer the research questions above, I employ an explorative mixed-methods
approach. This approach consists of two parts: a literature study which discusses recent
research, as well as an interview-based study with print readers, web readers and
advertising professionals.
From my study I can draw several conclusions; I have found that the print medium has
many qualities that aren’t easy to translate into a digital format. If the digital magazine
wants to deliver a reading experience similar to the paper magazine, where the reader
can engage in focused reading, it is important to find solutions for those values when
developing the digital magazines. I have also found that both the readers and the
advertisers have high expectations on the interactivity, innovative features and new digital
content. In the end of the thesis I discuss what implications my findings have for the
development of the digital magazine and its business model.
Sammanfattning: Framtidens digitala magasin – att utveckla det
digitala magasinet från ett läsar- och annonsörs perspektiv
Industrin för magasin eller tidskrifter håller på att göra ett skifte över mot digitala medier. Med
ny hårdvara så som iPaden hoppas industrin utveckla digitala magasin som kan konsumeras
på ett liknande sätt som tryckta magasin. Denna avhandling syftar till att undersöka hur det
digitala magasinet bör utvecklas. För att lyckas med detta undersöker jag dels värdet av det
tryckta magasinet samt förväntningarna för det framtida digitala magasinet både ur ett läsoch reklam perspektiv.
För att besvara frågeställningarna ovan, har jag använt mig av två olika metoder: en
litteraturstudie som diskuterar den senaste forskningen, samt en intervju-studie med pappers
magasin läsare från två olika magasin, webb läsare och experter inom reklamområdet.
Jag kan dra flera slutsatser från min studie, dels har jag funnit att det tryckta magasinet har
många speciella egenskaper som kan vara knepiga att översätta till det digitala formatet. Om
det digitala magasinet strävar efter att leverera en läsupplevelse som liknar
pappersmagasinet, så är det viktigt att hitta lösningar för de funktioner pappers magasinets
ger läsaren. En annan viktig slutsats jag kan dra från min studie är att både läsare och
reklamare förväntar sig stora möjligheter att interagera med magasinet, nya innovativa
funktioner och digitalt innehåll. I slutet av uppsatsen diskuterar jag vad mina resultat ger för
konsekvenser gällande utvecklingen av det digitala magasinet och dess affärs modell.
THANKS
First of I want to thank all the brilliant people at Bonnier, especially Björn Jeffery, Jonas
Olofsson, Pontus Schultz, Emil Ovemar and Alexander Jamal at Bonnier at R&D plus
Fredrik Strömberg and Louise Fallenius at Bonnier Tidskrifter. Thanks Bonnier for all
support and making this period fun. Then I want to thank my supervisor Christoffer
Rosenqvist at Stockholm School of Economics for the very quick feedback and great
discussions. I also want to thank Mats Larson who was always there for a discussion
when I needed. This was pretty often. And finally a big thanks to the participants. Thanks.
Thanks. Thanks.
Contents
1 Introduction ......................................................................................................................................1
1.1 Problem area ............................................................................................................................1
1.2 Purpose and thesis structure .....................................................................................................2
1.3 Method ......................................................................................................................................2
1.4 Delimitations .............................................................................................................................2
1.5 Background ...............................................................................................................................2
1.5.1 The transition from print to digital ........................................................................................2
1.5.2 The app economy ...............................................................................................................2
1.5.3 Social media.......................................................................................................................4
1.5.4 Media convergence ............................................................................................................4
1.6 Definitions .................................................................................................................................4
1.6.1 Digital magazine .................................................................................................................4
1.6.2 Magazine............................................................................................................................5
2 Theoretical foundation......................................................................................................................5
2.1 Business model theory ..............................................................................................................5
2.1.1 Common business models used for digital content ..............................................................5
2.1.2 Definition of a business model ............................................................................................6
2.2 Network theory ..........................................................................................................................6
2.2.1 Framework for Value Networks ...........................................................................................6
2.2.2 The value network of the publishing industry .......................................................................6
2.3 Industry reports .........................................................................................................................7
2.3.1 Nielsen Report, February 2010 Changing Models: A Global Perspective on Paying for
Content Online ............................................................................................................................7
2.3.2 The case of advertising in Interactive Digital Magazine, Josh Gordon..................................8
2.3.3 Raluca Budiu and Jakob Nielsen, Usability of iPad Apps and Websites...............................9
2.3.4 PennWell, subscriber study, April 2010 .............................................................................10
2.3.5 Magazine Publishers of America (MPA) Handbook 2010-11..............................................10
2.4 Summary of the Theoretical Foundation ..................................................................................11
3 Method ..........................................................................................................................................11
3.1 Individual interviews ................................................................................................................11
3.2 Selection of participants ..........................................................................................................12
3.2.1 Readers ...........................................................................................................................12
3.2.3 Advertising professionals ..................................................................................................13
3.3 Critique of method ...................................................................................................................14
3.4 Summary of the Method ..........................................................................................................14
4 Findings part 1: Result from the interviews .....................................................................................14
4.1 The usage of paper magazines ...............................................................................................14
4.1.1 Example 1: AOM8 ............................................................................................................15
4.1.2 Example 2: M4 .................................................................................................................15
4.1.3 Example 3: AOM10...........................................................................................................16
4.2 Reader expectations on the digital magazine ...........................................................................17
4.3 Advertiser expectations on the digital magazine.......................................................................23
4.3.1 Media and Advertising-agencies .......................................................................................23
4.3.2 End-advertisers ................................................................................................................27
5 Findings part 2: Analysis ................................................................................................................28
5.1 Important values of the print magazine ....................................................................................28
5.1.1 Identified values................................................................................................................28
5.1.2 Differences between the magazines .................................................................................33
5.2 Reader and advertising expectations on the digital magazine ..................................................34
5.2.1 The target group not just the existing subscribers nor the existing advertisers ...................34
5.2.2 Expected high level of interactivity and features ................................................................34
5.2.3 The expected advantages and disadvantages differs between the reader groups..............34
5.2.4 The consumer price depends on the value of the new digital services ...............................35
5.2.5 Complementary products expected ...................................................................................36
5.2.6 Advertisers expects the digital magazine to help out in the production of interactive
advertising.................................................................................................................................36
5.3 Summary of the Findings .........................................................................................................36
6. Discussion ....................................................................................................................................37
6.1 Implications on the product development .................................................................................37
6.1.1 High Expectations on level of interactivity and new features ..............................................37
6.1.2 Translating values from print to digital ...............................................................................37
5.1.3 The different components of a magazine ..........................................................................40
6.2 Implications on the business model .........................................................................................41
6.2.1 The value proposition: a caring service .............................................................................41
6.2.2 The market segment: Not just existing readers..................................................................41
6.2.3 The cost structure: Freemium + Advertising ......................................................................42
6.2.4 The value network: many different mediators ....................................................................43
6.3 Challenges for the publishing companies .................................................................................44
6.4 Possible critics ........................................................................................................................44
6.5 Further research ......................................................................................................................44
References .......................................................................................................................................46
1 Introduction
This chapter describes the problem background and defines the problem this study
deals with. The goal and delimitations are also described as well as the thesis
structure.
1.1 Problem area
The publishing industry is in a transition from print to digital and need to work out how they
can start to use the opportunities that the new digital technologies offers. Most of the
publishing houses haven’t found a working business model on the web, but there is a new
economy on rise, the app economy that have proved content providers it’s possible to
make money out of digital content. Apple led this development with first introducing their
App store for the iPhone in mid 2008 and it was a huge success. The Google counterpart
is Android Marketplace for the Android OS. The app economy has emerged for the
phones but also in social networks like Facebook.
On the web we have seen a discussion the recent years about the changing reading
behavior the web have given us. Nicholas Carr started a discussion if the way we read on
the web is changing our brains in the way that we read shorter texts. He believes the web
reader has become great at skimming texts but lost the ability to focus and read and think
deeply (Carr, N., 2008).
This year the tablet computer has been in focus and many new
tablet devices are expected to be launched. At CES 2010 almost
all major consumer tech company announced they were planning
to launch tablet devices this year. Apple was first out and
introduced the iPad (Apple press release, 2010) and April 3 it was
in the stores in the US. The iPad is a tablet computer i.e. a touch
screen that has the size between an iPhone and a laptop and is
rather thin. In writing moment the iPad doesn’t support multitasking
which could be one of the reasons it is good for leaned back media
FIG URE 1: THE IPAD
consuming. This means the old publishing industry now have a
chance to develop a new digital magazine product because this
new device can combine the opportunities of being digital and at the same time let the
user curl up in the sofa and consume media without distractions. It also means there is the
possibility for publishers to create a reading experience similar to the paper magazine on
the digital platform that will help the reader to read more focused and deeply.
The new technology has given the old book and magazine industry the opportunity to find
a business model for digital content by making apps for tablets and it has given the digital
readers a device with better conditions to read long texts. The digital magazines are under
development.
I want to explore the future of the future magazine and investigate what a digital magazine
should be. How should the digital magazine develop to offer the best magazine
experience? To gain a better understanding my first question is; what are the values of
the print magazine? If we get a better understanding on the value of print magazines we
can choose to create those for the digital magazine as well. My second question is; what
are the expectations from a reader and advertiser perspective for the digital
1
magazine? The understanding of the expectations and interest for the digital magazine
can give implications for the product development and the business model of the digital
magazine and bring more light into the big question of what a digital magazine should be.
1.2 Purpose and thesis structure
This study analyzes the value of print magazines and the expectations on the digital
magazines from a reader and advertising perspective to give implications for product
development and the role of the digital magazine. The study will benefit both readers and the
traditional magazine industry in their process of developing new digital magazines that are
better than the web for deep focused reading.
First I present the theoretical research that I use through the thesis, and then I present my
methods, findings and end with my discussion.
1.3 Method
To answer the research questions, I employ an explorative mixed-methods approach. This
approach consists of two parts: a literature study which discusses recent research, as well as
an interview-based study with print readers, web readers and advertising professionals.
I chose to interview subscribers from two different magazines to explore the eventual
differences between the readers groups. The magazines I chose were Allt om Mat and
Mama, where the first is a more instrumental magazine while the later is a lifestyle magazine.
1.4 Delimitations
I will study those questions solely from a user and advertising perspective. This means I will
not go into depth with technical nor economic details.
1.5 Background
1.5.1 The transition from print to digital
The music and film industry have already been forced to adjust their business models to the
growing importance of digital distribution. With new devices like the iPad and other e-readers
the time has come for the publishing industry to develop new digital magazine. This is also a
chance to attract the younger generations were the magazine reading have dropped over the
last years (Vahlberg, V., 2010).
One of the reasons the iPad can have good conditions for reading longer texts and
consuming digital magazines is because the iPad is both a leaning forward and leaning
backward media device. The web is a typically leaning forward media, where the users are
engaged and in scanning mode, actively looking for content. The attention span is much
shorter and we usually have a purpose. The typical leaned back media are TV and
magazines were the user has a much longer attention span because we usually sit down and
consume the media passively. The iPad can be used for both user states which makes it
interesting both in a consumer viewpoint as well as the media industries.
1.5.2 The app economy
With the up come of Apple app store people have started to pay for digital content and
services. It seems like people are more willing to pay when they do this by downloading
an application instead of unblocking a wall on the web. An application is software that the
users can install on a digital device like for example a mobile phone. This gives the
2
publishing industry the opportunity to use applications to earn money on digital
magazines.
1.5.2.1 The transformation of Internet
The Internet have transformed to not only exist of the open web but also a big number of
other digital platforms i.e. closed web applications like Facebook or native applications
that can be installed on different digital devices like laptops or mobile phones. The
applications are controlled by the producers and there are often limitations in many
different ways for the user, but in the same time this gives the user a more sleek and
simple service.
Mobile phones have become more and more
important and the way we use mobile phones
have changed during the last years. In Sweden
the data traffic have doubled the year
2009.(Forsberg, E., 2010) More and more people
are connected to Internet from their mobiles and
can use the web from a browser or download
native applications for different purposes, e.g.
listening to music with Spotify, connecting with
friends by Facebook or twittering by TweetDeck.
FIG URE 2: SOURCE PTS TELEMARKNAD 2009
On mobile phones the screens are small, which
means the interaction design is very important T HE GRAPH SHOW S T HE INCR EASE OF DAT A
T RAFFIC IN T B FOR MO BILE PHONES IN SW EDEN
and native applications are more and more often
used.
Right now we have a trend towards native applications but as our use of the mobile
Internet evolves, demand will increasingly change to web applications (ABI research,
2010).
1.5.2.2 Eco-systems for native apps
The 27th of January 2010, Apple introduced the iPad (Apple press release, 2010), a tablet
computer with a good ecosystem for downloading applications. It’s possible to install
native applications both on the iPad and the iPhone through the App store in iTunes.
Apple controls all content itself and retains absolute approval rights over all third-party
applications. It controls the look and feel and experience. Apple allows 70% of revenues
from the store to instantly go to the seller of the app, and 30% go to Apple. This 70/30 split
has made some developers dissatisfied. (Taft, 2010)
There are more expected tablet computers launches for this year (2010). Google have a
mobile operating system called Android and is expected to launch a tablet with the
Android operating later this year. (Gizmodo, 2010) Google doesn’t develop the hardware
themselves instead they partner with many different hardware manufacturers. The
Android online software store is called Android market and has as Apple a 70/30 split to
application developers.
Google has a different philosophy compared to Apple and believes the open web should
be the main place where information and services is brought to the users, instead of by
3
closed applications. Besides Apple and Google we see other companies like Research In
Motion (RIMM), Microsoft and Nokia that try to enter into the app economy.
1.5.2.3 Increased fragmentation
For mobile phones there exists a diversity of platforms. Statistics published by market
analyst Gartner in May showed that while Nokia’s Symbian was the clear market-leader,
with a 44% share of sales in the first quarter of 2010, this was challenged by BlackBerry
OS at 19%, iPhone 15% and Android 10%.(Shane, D., 2010)
This diversity in software platforms requires application developers either to choose a
single platform or to build different versions of their applications for each operating
system. Analysts think that all the different mobile platforms will lead us to increased
fragmentation that it is here to stay. (Husson, T., 2010)
1.5.3 Social media
Social media is becoming more and more important and in many digital products it is now
considered to be a hygiene factor. People expect to be able to easily recommend articles
to friends or comment. On the web people are used to not only being receivers of
information but also be co-producers.
Social media is also becoming more and more important in the search for online content.
Facebook are testing “instant personalization” that will help web services to give us
suggestions on what we want to do. We are moving from a user-initiated (search) to an
auto-serving (suggestions) technologies, and it’s about to change the way we live,
communicate, make money, shop, collaborate and more. (Ziv, Y, 2010) Instead of actively
searching for things, we will be presented with them, as we live our lives.
1.5.4 Media convergence
On the Internet companies meet new competition. The digital possibilities make the
different media companies converge. The magazines are competing not only with other
magazines from other countries but also with media companies that have their roots in
another old media like TV or radio. On the web we have media convergence which means
that the old media have merged together. For example a radio channel on Internet also
uses text and in some cases video, an online newspaper can use video and podcasts and
a television channel can use text and pictures. So the different traditional media emerge
when they go digital.
The media convergence not only give the media companies more competition but also
creates internal challenges when they have to transform their organization to “Cross
platform journalism”. This will make it very important for the company to redefine who they
are and who their audience is.
1.6 Definitions
1.6.1 Digital magazine
It is important to define what I mean with digital magazine. The development of
digital magazines is ongoing so there is no standard definition. In this essay when
using the words digital magazine I’m not referring to digital replicas of print
publications that are more or less like reading pdf:s. Instead, I am referring to the next
generation of digital magazines, or “interactive” digital magazines, that are designed
4
from the start to be digital and to compete for online readers and advertisers. At this
point the digital magazine is most often consumed on a tablet computer and most
probably distributed as a native application that the user install on the tablet hardware.
1.6.2 Magazine
In this study my definition of a magazine is a periodic publication containing pictures and
stories and articles of interest to those who purchase it or subscribe to it.
2 Theoretical foundation
This chapter goes through the important theories and related research that I will
use to draw my conclusions. The purpose of this chapter is to give the reader the
knowledge to understand the theories that are later used and the solutions
recommended in the conclusion and discussion part.
2.1 Business model theory
2.1.1 Common business models used for digital content
There are different models to drive business on the Internet, e.g. the freemium model, the
advertising model, subscription model and the affiliate model.
The freemium is a business model that works by offering basic Web services, or a basic
downloadable digital product, for free, while charging a premium for advanced or special
features. The word "freemium" is combining the two aspects of the business model: "free"
and "premium".
Chris Anderson has defined five different freemium models (Kincaid, J., 2009). They can
be;
•
•
•
•
•
feature limited
time limited
capacity limited
seat limited
customer class limited
Some examples of companies that use a freemium model are Yynga with their Facebook
games like Farmville which use a feature limited model. Then we have the company
Dropbox with their service Dropbox where they limit the number of megabytes in the free
version, hence they use a capacity limited model.
The advertising model refers to companies that get their revenue from advertising. This
model is very common on the Internet. The subscription model lets the user subscribe to
otherwise blocked content, i.e. sites that use pay-walls to block their content and to
unblock the site the user has to pay. The pay-wall can block all or parts of the content.
One potential problem with pay walls is that even if the site gets revenue from the
payments, there is the risk of losing advertising revenue. Another problem is that web
users are not used to pay and doesn’t want to start doing so. (The Nielsen Company,
2010) Then there is also a model that is called the affiliate model. The affiliate model is a
business model which makes money by driving traffic, leads, or sales to another website.
5
2.1.2 Definition of a business model
A definition of a business model is made by Chesbrough and Rosenbloom (2002) were
they define what functions that are included in a business model. This gives me the
opportunity to approach my study on specific functions.
The different functions of a business model are:
1. articulate the value proposition, that is, the value created for users by the offering
based on the technology
2. identify a market segment
3. find the company’s position in the value chain
4. estimate the cost structure and profit potential of producing the offering
5. describe the position of the firm within the value network
6. formulate the competitive strategy
When a new technology is introduced and a company uses this technology to create a
new service, their business model often gets out-of-date (Chesbrough, Rodenbloom,
2002). To be able to make profit of the new opportunities that new technology gives, it’s
important to have a correct business model for the new situation.
By using this model when discussing my results I will be able to give implications for some
parts of the business model for digital magazines. I will focus my research to explore the
first two components of a business model, the value proposition and the market segment,
but I will also touch upon cost structure. I will explore the value chain and the value
network with the help of network theory.
2.2 Network theory
2.2.1 Framework for Value Networks
A value network is a business analysis perspective that describes social and technical
resources within and between businesses. The components of a value network are
defined by Stabell and Fjeldstads and consist of:
•
•
•
•
A set of customers.
Some service all the customers use, which enables interaction between the
customers.
Some organization that provides the service.
A set of contracts that enables access to the service.
When Stabell and Fjeldstad (1998) describe the role of the mediating firm in a value
network they compare it to managing a club. I find this role to be an interesting view of the
magazine. A magazine has to admit the right member’s hat complement each other and in
some cases excludes those that do not. Stabell and Fjeldstad (1998) also mean that the
value is being created between the customers or “members” when they interact.
2.2.2 The value network of the publishing industry
In a study made by Helene Halfstrand in 2002 she analyze the magazine industry and
uses the framework made by Stabell and Fjeldstad to describe the publishing industry as
a value network and define the members of the “magazine club”.
6
FIGURE 3 THE VALUE NETW ORK OF THE PUBLISHING INDUSTRY BY HELENE HALFSTRAND - T HE
MEMBER S OF T HE MAGAZ IN E N ETW ORK ARE R EADER S, ADVER T ISER S AND ACT ORS ON T HE CONT ENT MARKET
The publishing company becomes a club manager in the magazine network that
interconnects three different members, the readers, the advertisers and the different
actors on what can be called a ”content market”. The readers want other readers to be
“right” as well as the advertisers and content. The advertisers are also part of the editorial
environment because they contribute to the "soul" of the magazine. This means that not
only the amount of advertisers is of importance for the survival of a magazine, but also
selection of the "right" advertisers. The advertisers in return want to have a relation with
the right readers as well as the right content. The content market consists of artists,
celebrities, companies, organizations and other groupings that need or desire media
attention for different reasons. Journalists can be considered as intermediaries between
the content market and the readers. The content also wants to reach out to readers and
advertisers. So there has to be the right mixes of readers, advertisers and content and this
is the important task of the magazine.
2.3 Industry reports
2.3.1 Nielsen Report, February 2010 Changing Models: A Global Perspective on
Paying for Content Online
The Nielsen Company report is a study based on a survey which was conducted during
the fall 2009 with more than 27,000 consumers in 52 countries concerning their opinions
on paying for content online.
The Nielsen report(Nielsen Company, 2010) shows that a majority, 85%, of consumers
across the world prefers that free online content remains free. But there are a areas were
consumers are more willing to pay and one of those are the ones were they normally pay
offline, like theatrical movies, games, TV etc. Other interesting findings is that a majority of
the consumers, 78%, believe that if they already subscribe to a offline magazine or TV
service they should be able to use its online content for free. From the graf below we can
see that a higher percentage of people would consider paying for online magazines than
7
online newspapers. But the research also shows that online content will have to be
considerably better than the currently free content before they wanted to pay.
FIG URE 4 SO URCE: THE NIELSEN COMPANY- SHOW S T HE RESULT S ON HOW MAN Y SURVEY PART IC IPANT S
W OULD CONSID ER PAYING FOR D IFFERENT KIND OF D IG IT AL MED IA
The survey participators also believe that if they have bought online content it should be
theirs to copy or share with whomever they want.
Media companies are trying different pay models like full subscription and micropayments
but regardless of what systems media companies choose, this study believes they will not
abandon advertising. (Nielsen Company, 2010)
2.3.2 The case of advertising in Interactive Digital Magazine, Josh Gordon
This is a study based on a survey based on 5,612 subscribers to different digital
magazines. The survey focused on advertising, the reading experience and extras.
Interactive advertising
According to the survey, 70 percent of
the readers of the digital magazines
that participated in the study were less
likely to ignore ads in digital magazines
than on Web sites. (Gordon, J., 2010)
The digital magazines also tend to
promote a longer user experience. On
average, interactive magazines are
viewed for 20 to 30 minutes while the
average Web site visit is eight to nine
minutes. (Gordon, J., 2010)
The respondents said the ads on digital
editions were less intrusive than Web
sites and more credible and helpful
How would you compare your reaction to
display ads in digital magazines with
banner ads?
Less intrusive:
Easier to read:
More
authoritative:
More credible:
Invites
involvement:
More trustworthy:
More fun:
More useful info:
Digital
Magazines
71%
80%
78%
Web
sites
29%
20%
22%
79%
80%
21%
20%
79%
82%
81%
21%
18%
19%
FIGURE 5: A COMPARASION BETWEEN HOW
ADVERTISING IS PERCIEVED IN DIGITAL MAGAZINES
AND WEB SITES
8
than ads in other electronic media. . (Gordon, J., 2010)
Reading Experience
According to the survey, 82 percent of the respondents say digital magazines were "more
engaging" than Web sites with similar content. It is also more trustworthy and gives a
more focused experience. The study shows that compared with web sites the digital
magazine can really offer great value to the reader. The digital magazine gets a better
percentage in all the below statements than the web sites. (Gordon, J., 2010)
Has more content:
More authoritative:
More trustworthy:
Easier to read:
Better organized:
More focused experience:
Look forward to it more:
More visually appealing:
More fun to read:
Digital Magazines
55%
65%
71%
73%
78%
80%
83%
83%
85%
Web sites
45%
35%
29%
27%
22%
20%
17%
17%
15%
FIGURE 6: A COMPARISON BETWEEN HOW THE READING EXPERIENCE IS PERCIEVED IN DIGITAL MAGAZINES
AND WEB SITES
Extra functionality
Extra functionality can make the readers look at articles they would otherwise ignore.
When asked which “digital extras” that had enhanced their reading experience the most,
75% answered video, 58% extra photos, 37,4% slide shows, 35,7% audio and 30,6%
flash animations. (Gordon, J., 2010)
2.3.3 Raluca Budiu and Jakob Nielsen, Usability of iPad Apps and Websites
This is an initial usability study of iPad apps and content made for the iPad conducted a
few weeks after Apple launched the device. In the study they test many different
magazine and newspaper applications.
They discovered that the magazine applications very often used the mental models of a
paper magazine or newspaper. Applications such as The New York Times Editors’
Choice, Time, GQ, Popular Science, and Paris Match all use the mental model of a paper
magazine or newspaper. In this mental model you flip through various pages as if you had
a real magazine or newspaper in your hands. (Nielsen, J., Badiu, R., 2010)
It’s important that the mental model of a magazine blend with the mental model of a
computer. Users ultimately know that when they use an iPad app, they are interacting with
a type of computer, and thus they expect computer-interaction conventions to be obeyed
(e.g., they expect to have access to hyperlinks). This study recommends the digital
magazines to give up on the paper magazine mental model. To stick by the page-by-page
model is unnecessary and does not make use of the habits people have formed during the
many years of browsing the Web. (Nielsen, J., Badiu, R., 2010)
9
2.3.4 PennWell, subscriber study, April 2010
Pennwell made a study in April 2010 were they made a global survey on two different
groups; people subscribing to a print magazine and people subscribing to a digital
magazine. There were 12,929 print respondents and 11,815 digital respondents
participating in the survey.
The results (Pennwell, 2010) from the study shows a trend were both the digital group and
the print group increasingly read more digital magazines and reads less print magazine.
The study also shows that it is more likely that digital users will buy an e-reading device
than it is that a print reader will.
How likely are you to buy an e-reading
device? (e.g. iPod)
Very likely
Maybe
Probably not
Definitely not
Digital
Print
10%
31%
45%
14%
7%
25%
51%
17%
FIGURE 7: THE LIKELINESS THAT DIGITAL MAGAZINE READER VS: A PRINT MAGAZINE READER WILL BUY AN
IPAD
The digital group was asked how important it is to access the digital magazine on a mobile
device and the majority doesn’t want to receive the magazine on their mobile, but there is
still 10% that say it’s very important. (Pennwell, 2010)
2.3.5 Magazine Publishers of America (MPA) Handbook 2010-11
This study shows that the current print subscribers want to keep their print magazine but
are interested to complement their subscription with the digital version. More than half of
the paper magazine subscribers are interested in trying the digital version. It also shows
that 61% of the new subscribers choose digital only.
FIG URE 8: SOURCE MPA HANDBOOK 2010/11 - T HE RESULT OF HOW MANY CU RRENT SUBSCR IBERS AND
NON-SUBSCR IBER S T HAT CHOSE T O SUBSCR IBE T O DIG IT AL+ PRINT VS PR INT ONLY OR D IG IT AL ONLY
When asked about pricing for the digital magazine, the respondents thought a fair price for
a subscription of only the digital magazine should be slightly more than half the price of
the paper magazine and single copies should approximately cost two thirds of the paper
magazine. (MPA, 2010)
Another interesting fact that was presented in the report was that the number of consumer
magazine websites has increased nearly 50% since 2006. Magazines start to understand
10
the value of the web and how it extends the reach and influence of the magazine to a
bigger audience. (MPA, 2010)
2.4 Summary of the Theoretical Foundation
The studies show that there is a trend towards digital magazines and that readers can be
willing to pay for digital content if the content is considerably better than the free online
content. The readers wish for more features and better content. It is important not to use
the mental model of the paper magazine when developing the digital magazines; the user
expects the digital magazine to make use of the digital possibilities.
The potential for advertising in digital magazines is great and the readers spend much
more time with the advertising in the digital magazines compared with the web. Readers
think the reading experience is much better then on the web in a number of ways. The
readers are more focused and they find it more fun and easier to read on a digital
magazine compared with the web sites. One study also show that it’s more likely that
digital magazine readers will buy e-reading device like an iPad than print magazine
readers.
The paper magazine subscribers were interested in the digital magazine but they still
wanted to keep the print version. But for new subscribers there was a majority that only
wanted to have the digital version only.
3 Method
This chapter describes the method used to explore my research questions, namely
individual interviews. It also describes how I have made my interviews and how I
have recruited the participants in my study. In the end of the chapter I also go
through some possible critics of the method used.
3.1 Individual interviews
I chose a qualitative research approach. To answer my first question; what are the
values for paper magazine, I held individual interviews with paper magazine readers and
asked questions concerning their habits and use of paper magazines. I also used
individual interviews to explore my second question concerning the expectations on the
digital magazine. I held interviews both with advertisers and readers.
This is a fairly new area of research and this is one of the reasons I chose to use a
qualitative research method to really try to understand the way readers use the paper
magazine as well as test expectations for the digital magazine. I chose to make individual
interviews instead of focus groups because I didn’t want the participant’s to affect each
others in the interviews. A disadvantage of individual interviews is that it’s more time
consuming than group interviews, but in the end I believe it was worth it.
The interviews were semi-structured and open-ended and they were mainly conducted
face to face but four of them had to be conducted as telephone interviews. I recruited four
different groups of participants. The first two groups were subscribers of a print magazine,
either “Mama”, a lifestyle magazine for the modern mom or “Allt om Mat”, Sweden’s
biggest food magazine. The third group was people that had an interest in either parenting
or cooking and preferred reading online, I call this group web readers. The forth group
11
consisted of advertising professionals, who were working in
media agencies, advertising agencies or companies.
The interviews with participants from the print magazine groups
took one hour and were divided in two parts. The first was to
understand the values of the paper magazine and understand
how the paper magazine is used and the second was to
understand the expectations on the digital magazines. In the first
part the participants had a pile of paper magazines in front of
them as input. In the second part of the interview the participants
first got to test digital magazines on an iPad. The digital FIG URE 9: INPUT FOR
S W ITH
magazines that were shown were Popular Science, Wired INTERVIEW
READERS PART 2 - AN IPAD
Magazine and Interview magazine. In the telephone interviews a W IT H DIGIT AL MAGAZ INES
film made by Bonnier R&D and Berg showing the concept of
digital magazines was shown as input. For the third reader group, the web readers, I
tested the expectations on the digital magazine and just as the paper magazine readers
the web readers first got to test digital magazines on an iPad. To prepare myself for the
interviews I had discussions with many different people at Bonnier as well as my tutor
from Stockholm School of Economics (SSE).
To understand the expectations on the advertising platform for digital magazines I
interviewed advertising professionals, both representatives from media agencies,
advertising agencies and advertisers. Some of the participants were mainly working with
print and other digital media. To prepare myself for those interviews I had a discussion
with Louise Fallenius at Bonnier Creative to polish my questions and further understand
the challenges in developing the digital platform for advertising.
In my preparations for my interviews I also tried to work on a number of criteria’s for me as
an interviewer. Those are knowledgeable, structuring, clear, gentle, sensitive, open,
steering, critical, remembering and interpreting. (Kvale, 1997) All the participants in my
study are anonymous and this is to get the best condition for the participants to freely
speak their mind. I have been using the ethical guidelines from the book “Interviews: An
Introduction to Qualitative Research Interviewing” (Kvale, 1996) they are informed
consent, confidentiality and consequences.
All interviews were audio recorded and I made notes and comments from the interviews.
Those notes together with the transcribed recordings were then used for the analysis.
3.2 Selection of participants
3.2.1 Readers
In total I held 22 interviews. The participants were recruited into three different groups, Allt
om Mat subscribers, Mama subscribers and web readers.
The print magazine subscribers were found with the help of the Swedish publishing house
Bonnier AB and contacted by mail or phone. The participants were carefully selected to
differ in age, gender, occupation and if they were using a Smartphone like iPhone or
Android. All were recruited from the Stockholm area to make it easier to organize face to
12
face interviews. The participants AOM1, AOM2 and M4 both read the Mama magazine as
well as the Allt om Mat magazine.
In the case of finding web readers, I tried to recruit participants by featuring in the
newsletter for Allt om Mat and Mama. Unfortunately this strategy didn’t give the best
result, only one out of the four people that responded fulfilled my requirements to favor
reading online instead of paper magazine. Instead I used a “snowballing technique” to find
the rest of my web reader participants, i.e. I asked my friends to ask their friends, who
fulfilled my criteria’s, to participate in my research.
ID
Gender
Age
Owner of a
Smartphone
Participant’s
profession
AOM/Mama/W
eb
AOM1
F
29
No
On parental leave
AOM, Mama
AOM2
AOM3
AOM4
F
F
F
44
27
44
Project coordinator
Musician
IT-consultant
AOM, Mama
AOM
AOM
AOM5
AOM6
F
F
51
49
No
No
Yes,
Android
No
Yes, iPhone
IT Project leader
Kindergarten teacher
AOM
AOM
AOM7
F
60
Yes, iPhone
Psychologist
AOM
AOM8
M
36
No
Administrator in the
food&wine business
AOM
AOM9
M
28
Yes, iPhone
Student
AOM
AOM10
M1
M2
M3
M4
M5
M6
W1
M
F
F
F
F
F
F
F
40
38
29
34
42
30
33
28
No
No
No
No
No
Yes, iPhone
No
no
AOM
Mama
Mama
Mama
Mama, AOM
Mama
Mama
Web
W2
W3
W4
W5
W6
M
M
M
F
M
39
35
35
30
38
yes
no
no
yes
yes
Project leader
Secretary
Nurse
Student councilor
Project leader
Web-ad salesperson
Actress
Doctor (on maternity
leave)
Company owner
Cooking chef
Project leader
Art Director
Marketing manager
Web
Web
Web
Web
Web
FIGURE 10: A TABLE OF ALL THE PARTICIPANTS IN THE READER GROUPS
3.2.3 Advertising professionals
To understand the expectations on the digital magazine from an advertising point of view I
interviewed five people from three different well known media agencies; two of them
mostly worked with print media and three of them mostly worked with digital media. Then I
spoke with one art director from an advertising firm plus three marketing directors for three
different companies of varied size. In total I interviewed 9 advertising professionals.
Company
Media agency A
Media agency A
Digital/Print
Print group
Digital group
13
Media agency B
Media agency C
Media agency C
Digital group
Print group
Digital group
Advertising agency
Art Director, digital
FIGURE 11: THE ADVERTISING PROFESIONALS
Position
Advertising
and
manager
Marketing manager
Founder
media
Industry
Global car and motorcycle
producer
Swedish dentist chain
Traveling organizer
Size
Big Enterprise
midsize
small
FIGURE 12: THE ADVERTISERS
3.3 Critique of method
A method is valid if what is measured is relevant to answer the research questions and it
is reliable if the measurements are executed in a reliable way. During my pre-study I read
a lot of relevant literature and related research on the subject. I also had many
discussions with people from different relevant backgrounds, which helped me in the
process of choosing research questions and methods. Through my pre-study I have tried
to get the best conditions in regards of validity. I have carefully selected questions that I
believe can lead to discussions which will help answering my research questions.
There is always a risk that the interview objects get influenced by the interviewer which
would affect the reliability of the study, but I have tried my very best to avoid leading
questions and tried to be as neutral and impartial as possible.
3.4 Summary of the Method
I choose to do a qualitative study doing individual semi structured interviews. The
participants were from two major groups, readers and advertisers. In the first group I
interviewed participants subscribing to Mama or/and Allt om Mat and web readers. In the
second group I interviewed people working in media agencies with print or digital, I also
interviewed one person working on an advertising agency and three people who were
advertisers.
4 Findings part 1: Result from the interviews
The findings are presented in three major parts, the first concerns the values of the
print magazine, the second the expectations on the digital magazine by readers and
the third the expectations on the advertising platform of the digital magazine by the
advertisers. All parts present data collected from the interviews and are later
followed up with the analysis of the data in the next chapter.
4.1 The usage of paper magazines
In this section I present data from the interviews with paper magazine readers where I
explored the role of the paper magazine and how people are using it. I present three
different examples where the participants have described how they use the paper
magazine.
14
4.1.1 Example 1: AOM8
This participant is a 36 years old man who is very interested in food and wine and he
subscribes to Allt om Mat. When the magazine arrives to his home he skims it through
and maybe read some articles, but then he puts it beside his bed so he get reminded to
read the longer articles when he goes to bed and have the time.
After he has read the magazine he places it in the bookshelf in the living room, now his
partner knows where the magazine is and can easily borrow it to read. When there are too
many magazines in the bookshelf he archives the old magazines and puts them in the
closet.
When he finds interesting recipes in Allt om Mat magazines he scans them and organize
them in different folders. Then he prints recipes and makes cooking books that he can use
in the kitchen. He makes different themes for the cook books, like Christmas, country
house or summer recipes.
FIG URE 13: A VISUALIZATION OF THE USAG E O F PAPER MAGAZINES BY PARTICIPANT AO M8
4.1.2 Example 2: M4
This participant is a 42 year old woman who reads Mama, Allt om Mat plus interior design
magazines. When a magazine arrives she browses through the magazine in the entrance
and usually reads shorter articles, then she places the magazine by her bed to reads the
longer articles when she has time. After all articles have been read the magazine usually
ends up in the toilet and stays there till a new issue arrives. When the magazine is in the
toilet everything gets read, even the advertising.
15
FIGURE 14: THE FIRST MONTH OF THE MAGAZINE LIFECYCLE AT M4
When a new issue has arrived, the magazines get placed in the most recent pile of
magazines. After some month the magazines get placed in another pile where magazines
no older than one year are placed. From both those piles it happens that her neigbour or
her sister in law borrow magazines. She tries to read the magazines again after half a
year to see if they still have any value. A magazine can have value if for example there
are instructions, articles or pictures she wants to use. If the magazine doesn’t have any
value she gives it away otherwise she collects it in her cronological piles. Those piles are
later used to go back and analyze trends. She also makes scrapbooks out of the interiour
design magazines to be able to analyze her own taste.
FIG URE 15: AFTER THE FIRST MONTH OF THE MAGAZINE LIFECYCLE FOR PARTICIPANT M4
4.1.3 Example 3: AOM10
This participant is a 40 year old man who reads Allt om Mat. He browses through the
magazines the same night as they arrives and then he tries to remember to cook recipes
he find interesting the following weeks. All the magazines are in a pile and he throws away
the whole pile one time a year. Before he throws all the magazines he looks through all of
them and cuts out interesting recipes which he then organizes into three different books,
one for starters, one for mains and one for desserts.
16
In the summers he usually brings magazines out camping and then he shares magazines
with his friends.
FIG URE 16: THE LIFECYCLE O F A PAPER MAGAZINE W ITH PARTICIPANT AO M10
4.2 Reader expectations on the digital magazine
In this section the results from the second part of the interviews with the readers exploring
the expectations on the digital magazine are presented. Three different groups are
participating in this study; two groups with print magazine readers from Allt om Mat and
Mama, were the first is a food magazine and the second is a lifestyle magazine for moms,
the third group is a group with web readers.
4.2.1 Shown interest
The interest in digital magazines differs between the groups, where the web readers are
much more interested than the print magazine readers. All of the participants from the
web reader group but only half of the paper magazine readers want to test reading digital
magazines. The other half of the print magazine readers are very skeptical and not
interested at all. When looking at factors as gender, age and touch phone-use there is an
over representation of touch phone users and men that are showing big interest, but no
differences in regarding age. The interest to invest in the hardware is not very high, only 3
out of the 22 participants wanted to buy an iPad.
A majority of the paper magazine readers who were interested wouldn’t like to swop their
paper magazine subscription to a digital one, but if they had a tablet they would buy single
copies of other digital magazines. There were a couple of paper magazine readers,
subscribing to Allt om Mat, that would consider replacing their print magazine with a digital
magazine if the expected extra features would give a true value or if the price is much
lower than the paper magazine.
The web readers were very interested to try out the digital magazine, but they have high
expectations both on the level of interactivity and smart new features but also the
integration with the different web services.
17
4.2.2 Expected product advantages
High level of interactivity, new features and integration with web services
The common opinion is that the digital magazine should take advantage of the
possibilities the new platform offers but in the same time they want the digital magazine to
respect long reading, ones the reader have chosen to start reading a longer peace there
should not be any disturbances at all.
Almost all participants are expecting to be able to do more with their digital magazines
than with the paper magazine and this is seen as something positive. The participants
expect to be able to recommend and share articles on Facebook, enjoy video articles and
follow hyperlinks to related magazine articles. But they don’t want the new features to try
to get their attention, i.e. no videos should start play automatically. The participants still
want a calm reading experience but where they have the option to interact and consume
more content like watch a video or interact with an animation.
” I want more features but I want to choose when to use them. Video is for example
really good for reviews, but I don’t want it to play without me clicking on it.” W6
Many different features were mentioned as desired, i.e. use search, watch video, send
recommendations, share articles, follow hyperlinks to previous articles from other issues,
follow hyperlinks to related articles to other magazines, possibility to move digital
magazines between hardware, view reading history, access previous magazines, use
tools to analyze trends and see pattern in the content over the years.
“Search would be an enormous advantage. I want to be able to save articles and
recipes in a way where I can have a good overview - I believe this is something I
can use!” AOM7
” it is important to be able to save the magazines to some external place. Then I can
clean up to get more free space on the hardware, but in the same time keep the
magazines somewhere.” W2
Mobile apps and the possibility to reach content anywhere
Many participants also expect to be able to reach their digital magazines with other
devices like laptops or phones. The participants who were using an iPhone were more
likely to wish for magazine applications for the mobile phone. They didn’t expect to have
the same digital magazine on their e-reader device as their mobile phone but some
application with recent updates or services that would be handy on the go.
”I definitely want to have Mama on my mobile; especially when I will go on my
parental leave, because then I expect I will have a lot of time. It would be very good
to have when I will be out for walks and have a sleeping baby in the stroller. …
Right now I have some mobile application with recipes in my mobile and I use it a
lot.” M5
Two participants wanted to be able to save interesting articles or parts of articles or ads
from the iPad version of the magazine, this information should then be synced with
magazine app for the mobile phone. With a service like they wished it would be easy to
mark an address to a shop or a recipe in the magazine when reading at home in the sofa
18
and later when the user would be out on the run, it would be easy to find the information
with the mobile phone.
High availability
The high availability in many aspects is viewed as a big advantage. First it is easy to carry
around many issues, secondly the digital magazines are expected to be easy to buy and
thirdly it should be easy to find and use certain content inside the issues.
“It’s very handy because I can have all magazines there!” AOM7
The web readers think it is easier to carry around an iPad than a laptop and they can see
themselves taking the iPad to the café instead of a laptop. The paper magazine readers
wouldn’t necessarily bring the iPad when going to work instead of a paper magazine but
they see the advantage to bring many magazines when they go on holiday.
All participants expect it to be very easy to buy new digital magazines, with one click
where ever you are and without having to find a newspaper stand. Many participants also
mentioned they think they will buy more international magazines and expects the price of
the international magazines to be the same as the national.
“This makes it easier to get hold of magazines. With this I can read Swedish
magazines when I’m in Germany and German magazines when I’m in Sweden. Right
now I can’t get hold of any Swedish magazines when I’m in Germany” AOM2
The participants also expect that it will be easier than in the paper magazine to find certain
content from old publications with a search function or some kind of clipboard were the
reader can save and organize interesting content.
”An advantage with digital magazines, for a person like me that likes cooking, is
that I can have a lot of recipes in the tablet. And I can easily put it in the kitchen I
front of me when I cook. It’s easier to find recipes when its digital.” AOM10
Better for the environment
The digital magazine is believed to be more environment friendly than the paper
magazine. The environmental factor was mentioned by many of the participants but never
first of mind.
Better reading experience than the web
Compared to the web the digital magazine was believed to be easier to overview and
have the right conditions for a more relaxed reading experience. The participants from the
web reader group believed the digital magazines would make them more engaged with
the articles and more often read longer pieces. They also expected the content to be
pushed to them and they thought this would remind them to read more.
“An advantage is that you get reminded when a new issue has arrived, if that’s easy
to see just looking at the app. On the web I visit places when I haven’t been there
for a while so I can miss out on interesting news.” W1
Many of the web readers thought they would appreciate a digital magazine because it
offers a trusted and qualitative selection of articles. This would make the reading
experience less stressful.
19
“The advantage with this is that I can have everything in one place. On the web you
can get stressed because there is so much. But with the digital magazines I only
have to make the choice one time to follow certain magazines and then I don’t have
the stress to choose all the time. Instead I can have my favorites and follow them.”
W1
“It’s comfortable to have a magazine with a editorial staff that I can trust and who
can also guide me and point out other interesting and related articles on the web”
W4
4.2.3 Expected product disadvantages
Bad overview and reading experience compared with print
Approximately half of the participants from the paper magazine groups believe that the
digital magazine can’t give a good overview and that the feeling of simplicity and
relaxation that the paper magazine reading experience delivers disappears in the digital
magazine.
Online distractions
Half of the participants from the paper magazine groups also believe that they will only
read shorter articles and not as focused as they read in the paper magazines. They think
they will lose their focus due to the fact that the device is online or at least very easily
online with the whole digital world of mailboxes, Facebook and other temptations that
would disrupt or at least stress the reading experience.
Too abstract
Some of the paper magazine readers said the digital magazine was too abstract. They
explained how they wouldn’t start collecting digital magazines because they didn’t feel like
they had control over the product. The digital magazine could easily disappear in a
hardware crash. They also worried they wouldn’t read or use the digital magazines as
often because they simply wouldn’t remember to.
“It’s kind of when people say they rip all their DVD’s on to some hard drive. But
that doesn’t work, because then you forget that they exist. …You have to see them
now and then to remember you have them.” AOM4
”I would never collect digital magazines, because I wouldn’t remember what I have
or what content there is in the issues. I forget immediately when I have something
that is digital. It doesn’t stay in my memory.” AOM6
They also worried about the reading experience and how it would be much harder to know
what issues that were read when it is digital.
“I think it will be harder to understand how much I read. If I read paper magazines I
know when I have read four of them, but if I would read digital magazines I don’t
think I would keep track on what I have read. “M6
Sharing difficulties
They also expected there could be difficulties to share magazines with each other. Evan if
there would be a sharing feature where friends could “borrow” an issue; this would
20
probably require the friend to also have a tablet computer and maybe even a specific
brand.
“The disadvantage that I see is that if you have two magazines you can always lend
one to your friend in the same time as you read the other one, but with this device
its only me that can read even if I have multiple digital magazines with me.” AOM10
Underdeveloped hardware
The hardware was experienced as heavy; this was one of the first things the participants
noticed when they started to play with the digital magazines. Another disadvantage is that
it is dependent on batteries and many participants thought it would be annoying to have
another device they had to charge all the time. Some of the participants got annoyed by
the fingertips on the screen. They thought this wouldn’t make the reading experience
cozy.
“I’m the most annoyed with all the fingerprints on the screen!” AOM4
Many of the participants also mentioned that it was a relatively expensive and fragile
device, which put a lot of limitations on how it could be used, for example the participant
said they wouldn’t like to have it in their bag or bring it to the park. They also saw big
limitations when using the device in direct sunlight or close to water, which for example
makes it useless on the beach. The risk of theft or that the hardware device would break
made participants believe that the use of digital magazines would inhibit their daily life.
“With the increase of new modern devices the fear of doing certain things also
increases. Like for example I can’t play “ping pong” when I have my iPhone in my
pocket, because then I risk getting a crack in the display. Or maybe I can’t put my
jacket somewhere because of the risk of theft. So in a way it’s a bit inhibitory with
modern technology” AOM9
Problem with hardware crashes
Participants were also worrying about hardware crashes. If or when something goes
wrong with the hardware, then the participants want it to be really easy to use new
hardware and download all the magazines again.
“I save all my paper magazines, with digital magazines that seem much more
difficult. What happens if the tablet breaks? My computer crashed and then a lot of
my things disappeared.” M6
Platform dependence
Many of the participants wished to reach their digital magazines were ever they are and
with different devices. They wanted to be able to move the digital magazines between
platforms and devices. This is important so they can change hardware without having to
think about platforms. Many participants, especially the iPhone users, believed that the
digital magazines unfortunately would be platform dependent and this was a
disadvantage.
“It’s boring when the content is tied to a certain technology. For example if you
have a work phone but then you change job and get another work phone of another
brand? It’s a danger if the content is tied to a specific technology… Or if I want to
21
give a subscription as a present to a friend, then I don’t want to first have to ask –
well, what technology do you use?” AOM9
4.2.4 The expected user
The participants were asked to describe the people they thought would start read digital
magazines. Most of the participants described a primary target group as men, interested
in technology, well-paid and younger than 45. Many participants stressed that the
hardware was expensive.
“The first ones to use this are the one with money. It’s a pretty expensive and
unnecessary device in a way. So you have to be a bit interested in technology and
be able to afford it.” W5
One woman thought the typically user of the digital magazine would read to collect
information and learn things rather than read to relax and get entertained.
”The people that have good use for the device at work I think will use this for other
things, but it’s not for me who is a home wife and only want to browse a paper
magazine to entertain myself. I think this way of reading is for well-paid working
people. It feels like this group of people more like to collect information in an
effective way and then it can be good. But I don’t believe it works to get the feeling
of luxury that I want. “AOM2
The participants described the expected target group for the tablet device differently.
Many thought this would be a perfect device to entertain kids with and believed families
with children would buy it.
4.2.5 Expected price and preferred pay model
Expected price
There was a will to pay among the paper magazine readers, but because of all the
expected limitations in the product the expected price was approximately 1/2 the price of
the print magazine.
“I believe that the content will be tied to a certain device, like an iPad. This is a
limitation so if the paper magazine costs around 50 SEK I think the digital magazine
should cost around 30 SEK. This because it feels limited and that I believe it’s
harder to collect and save articles.” AOM9
Many participants could pay a higher price if the digital magazine had extra features that
really give an extra value.
” The DM has to be less expensive to become interesting. The prize is depending
on how interactive it is, if it offers more possibilities like films and other content
plus features I can pay a higher price. But if it’s just the same content as in the
paper magazine and only dead pages I think it has to be at least half the price.”
AOM10
All the web readers except one, was willing to pay for digital magazines, but the price has
to be much lower than the paper magazine and the digital magazine had to offer a truly
valuable magazine service.
22
Preferred pay model
Many of the participants who were interested in the digital magazine thought they would
subscribe to a digital magazine if it was pushed to them. They stressed that they had to
get reminded when a new issue arrived so they would remember to read.
”I think I would need a subscription because otherwise there is the risk I don’t read.
It has to be a little “push” and visible when there is a new issue out.” W2
But some participants didn’t understand the value of a subscription when it was so easy to
just buy single copies.
” Why I subscribe to my paper magazine right now is because I don’t want to go
down to the store and buy them. On this device I can buy them directly from home
so then I don’t have the reason to subscribe anymore. A subscription has to offer
something else like a much better price or if there is extra content like films.” M6
Some of the participants were mentioning desired alternative ways to subscribe. One
example was the possibility to subscribe to a number of digital magazines every month
but where the subscriber can choose every month what titles to read from a selection of
different magazines.
“It would be very exiting if it would be possible to subscribe to X magazine/month
but without choosing the titles, because sometimes I want a food magazine but I
don’t want one every second week because I don’t have the need for that.” W1
The participants believe the paper magazine and the digital magazine should take on
different roles and complement each other. Generally the paper magazine readers think
the digital version should offer different kind of digital services as a complement to the
paper magazine. But the web readers think the opposite way that the paper magazine
should work as a complement for the digital magazine.
“The paper magazine is a more careless product which I skim through and can
handle more carelessly. So the paper magazine should function as a “teaser” to the
tablet version where the depth and mood is different and fully developed.” W6
4.3 Advertiser expectations on the digital magazine
The first parts present the results from the interviews with representatives from media and
advertising agencies and the second the results from the interviews with advertisers.
4.3.1 Media and Advertising-agencies
4.3.1.1 Expected high level of interactivity and new digital possibilities
The expectations are high on the possibilities to develop ads that fully take advantage of
being digital, e.g. a high level of interaction, strong integration with the web and a maximal
usage of the hardware. All the participants expect to be able to use links to websites,
sound, animations, video and so forth in the ads.
“The basic requirement is that it’s possible to share ads on Facebook.” Digital
Media group, Media agency A
23
The advertising professionals have big hopes for the development of the advertising
platform for the new digital magazine. They believe this new advertising opportunity will
improve the communication, make the ads more exiting and help the reader by offering
valuable services within the ads. They want to connect ads to the web and build
competitions, polls, surveys etc directly in the ads. Some of the professionals have hopes
to test selling products directly from the ads and link between different advertisements
from different magazines.
“The advantage of the digital magazine lay in making them more interactive and
making the ads integrated with services in new ways. That’s what I find exciting and
fun with this new format. The Wired magazine is much more attracting than the
Popsci magazine, especially from an advertising POV! “Digital group, media agency
C
When building the advertising they want to be able to make use of different parameters
like time, location and the movements of the iPad. Many of the participants wish for the
possibility to totally change the advertisement over time. Most of the advertising
professionals believe that the advertisers will want to build features and more information
inside the ads rather than just linking to a campaign site. One participant compared with
Facebook campaigns where she said a campaign have better effect if the whole campaign
is on Facebook.
“if you make an advertising campaign on Facebook and run the whole campaign on
their platform the effect is often much better. I think it is the same for digital
magazines, if the reader have chosen to read the magazine they want to stay there,
but they will like if there is more information in depth or services within the ad … So
I believe the advertisers should build in more functionality in the app and make the
reader spend more time there, do things in the ad and then continue reading.”
Digital manager, Media Agency C
Just as for the print advertisement the relevance is very important. The ad has to be in the
right context at the right time. The participants believe that the digital world could
improved the relevance by personalize the advertising or change the advertising
depending of what time of the day it is.
“The advertisement has to be in the right context … The most important for the
value of an ad is that it is in the right place.” Media agency B
If advertisement in a digital magazine is personalized the advertising professionals believe
it’s important that this is visible for the reader and maybe also possible to turn it off. The
media professionals were looking forward to personalized advertisement, especially
location based personalization since this could make it possible for Swedish companies to
advertize in international magazines, like Vogue or Wired magazine.
4.3.1.2 The digital magazine is more similar to the web than paper magazine
When asked if they thought the digital magazine was more closely related with the print
magazine or the web, four out of six directly said it was more close to digital.
“I think this is more close to the web. I think it will take some years before we sit
down and read focused on a tablet.” Media agency B
24
“I think this is more similar to the web than paper. I believe people will have the
mindset of the web when they read DM. … People that are used to an iPhone or a
tablet have a behavior more similar to the web. … it’s important not to get stuck in
the world of print. I think it’s important to use the technology and the possibilities
to do more that it brings”” Print group, Media agency C
The two remaining professionals who first said it was more close to print were both digital
managers in media agencies, but both of those people thought that it would only stay like
that for a short time and when the digital magazine has matured it will be truly digital and
more similar to the web.
“I think of this as print right now, but I also think it will become more similar to the
web.” Digital group, media agency C
All the professionals think the advertising should be more close to web advertising than
print advertising. Still many of the professionals think there is a risk the advertisers will
reuse their print advertising into the digital magazines because they can’t afford the extra
costs of producing new material for the digital magazine. The professionals don’t believe it
works using print ads in a digital magazine. To have successful advertising in the digital
magazine they believe the ads have to be more interactive and made for the digital format
and to be read on a screen.
”I don’t think it works to just re-use the print ad in the digital magazine.” Print
group Media agency C
“When the Internet was new, people took advertising for print and just put it online
and thought that would work. I think there is a risk that the same mistake can
happen over again, but I hope not and that the people in the industry have learnt. …
But it’s also about the costs when producing material for different formats. It’s
easier to test the digital magazine with using an ad for print, but then there is a big
risk it won’t work.” Digital media agency C
It’s not only the costs that will be a barrier for the development of successful advertising
for the digital magazine it’s also the sales process and the internal organizations in the
media agencies that can become a barrier. The media agencies are divided into different
groups were there are a special group for print and another for digital. If the advertiser has
contact with a salesperson from the print group, there is a risk the salesperson thinks it is
easier to just use the print ad and sell space in the digital magazine as well. With the
digital magazine the internal groups have to collaborate, because the content in the digital
magazine will be similar to that in the print magazine, but the advertising has to be digital.
The media agencies have started to plan for some internal change. In media agency C
they had discussions about how all the different groups should get a better digital
competence and in media agency A they had started discussions between the digital and
the print group to develop a better collaboration.
4.3.1.3 Want to measure as much as possible
The professionals working in the digital media groups expects everything that is possible
on the web to also be measurable in the digital magazine but they also hope to measure
the time spent interacting with the ad, how often, when, where and so forth.
25
“I definitely expect to be able to measure almost everything; it would be very weird
if it wasn’t as measurable as the web. But I also expect to be able to measure other
values, like time spent in an ad and how people interact with it. I think that the ad
can almost become like a little site inside the magazine so I want to be able to
measure clicks and have a scheme on how the users move around.” Digital group,
Media agency C
”it is really important to measure observation, what is clicked on, how the
interaction pattern look like and then as well the reach” Print group, media agency
A
Also the professionals from the print groups want to measure more than it’s possible for
the print magazine even if they don’t have the same high expectations as the digital
groups.
”I’m that kind of person who believes that all data is interesting. All data that is
measurable is interesting to me and with the iPad it’s really fun because here we
have a unique person that we can measure” Digital group, media agency A
4.3.1.4 Wants clear guidelines and help on the production
All the professionals believe the digital magazine should offer services to help developing
advertising for the digital magazine. The magazine should have different modules to make
it easier for the advertisers, but if the advertiser wants to develop their own ads with the
help of the specification and an advertising firm this should be permitted. It’s important
that the specification is easy to understand.
“The advertising agencies don’t have the knowledge to produce, but I believe that
the digital agencies that work with mobile applications should be good at this. Still,
in the beginning I think it’s good if the production is done by the digital magazine
itself.” Media agency B
“In the beginning it’s important that the digital magazine helps producing the
advertisement. Even on the web the companies have to help the advertising
agencies to produce it the right way.” Digital group, media agency C
The art director thought it was very important to also provide non-technical specifications
that could explain and inspire the advertising agencies. There are many creators who are
not especially technical but still need to know what is technical feasible. She hoped there
would be people available on the digital magazine that can explain details when needed.
4.3.1.5 Expected price model
Space and the technical management
The advertisers should pay for two different parts. First, the price for the actual visual
space in the digital magazine just like in the print magazine, half a page, one page or so
forth, but it shouldn’t matter in terms of costs how the advertiser develop the digital ads.
Secondly, they expect a cost for the technical management of the ad or the size in bytes
of the advertisement. The heavier the advertisement is the more expensive it gets.
26
The factor of time
Another question that was discussed was how long time the advertisement should run in
the digital magazine. If for example an advertiser had a competition that was only running
one month, that advertiser would of course like to pay only for one month or be able to
change the advertisement after one month. To change an advertisement could cost extra
but would be a good service and something the advertisers may come to expect after a
while. After all its digital so it’s possible. For example if an advertiser changed their
company name, there would be a good point to change their names in old but still popular
issues. The participants thought it should be visual if an advertisement has changed,
maybe with a symbol that is clickable to make it possible for the reader to view the origin
advertisement.
4.3.1.6 Expected Target group
The participants thought that the presumed reader of the digital magazine will be mostly
rich men that likes new gadgets and read instrumental magazines. Because of this
presumed end target group the participants thought that the digital magazines could bring
a new type of advertiser, namely the advertisers that focuses on men. This is a target
group that the participants described as hard to reach with print magazines.
The participants also thought that luxury brands would be more likely to advertise in the
digital magazine. So the old premium brands that advertise in the print magazine will
probably follow and advertise in the digital as well. Those brands often have material, like
video and so forth that can be used in digital campaigns.
“I believe the digital magazine will attract advertisers from the fashion and car
manufactory industry, as well as other premium brands that advertise in print
today. But I also think there will be new advertisers. One group will be advertisers
who are more digital and another is the one that aim for the male consumers.” Print
group, media agency C
4.3.1.7 The Future for the digital magazine
One of the participants thought that the native applications wouldn’t be necessary in the
future. Then the digital magazine will be on the web, but he thought the magazine concept
would survive anyway.
“Soon we have html5 and then we don’t need apps anymore. Web and apps will
become the same. But then the magazine is still the product that the editorial office
want to show for a specific month and the articles in a magazine should be of better
quality in that sense its more thought through and given longer time to produce.”
Digital group, media agency A
4.3.2 End-advertisers
The advertisers are very positive and have high expectations on the level of interactivity
and look forward to more creative advertisement. They wanted to use video, show many
pictures and use other features in the same ads. They stressed the fact that they wanted
the advertising to be interactive.
“I definitively want to use video and sound like in the advertisement in Wired
magazine, than we can show much more of our product, not only a picture. There
27
are a lot of things I want to do, but haven’t figured out what yet.” Marketing
manager, Car manufacture
The middle sized company thought it was very important to be able to use hyperlinks to
link to their web site, while the small company thought it was better to have more
information built into the ads. The big car manufacture said he wanted to be able to do
both.
” I think it is important to use the possibilities of being digital and rule number one
is to be able to link!” Marketing manager Dentist chain
“I want the reader to be able to click and take part of an offering or some other
information. But it should be a part of the “reading a magazine experience”, so
preferably it should be built in to the ad, because to read an ad is only a sidetrack
for the reader that wants to continue reading the magazine.” Owner, Travel
organizer
The big car manufacture company thought that it was necessary to spend money if the
goal was to create great digital advertising for the digital magazine. He didn’t think it would
work to just use the print ads. The advertising has to be innovative otherwise the
advertising will look boring comparing with the competitors.
“If you just make a normal ad and everyone else takes advantage of the new
possibilities, the normal ad will look boring. I believe that if we decide to advertise
in digital magazines we will do more work and not just use normal flat ads. Our
brand wants to be innovative and progressive.” Car manufacture
5 Findings part 2: Analysis
The analysis is presented in two major parts, the first concerns the values of the
print magazine, the second the expectations on the digital magazine by readers and
advertisers. The previous chapter presented the data collected from the interviews
and this chapter is followed up with the analysis of the data.
First I go through and present my analysis of the data from the interviews with
paper magazine readers that explored how the readers used their paper magazines.
This analysis results in a number of important values of the paper magazine as well
as a description of the differences between the two print reader groups, Allt om Mat
and Mama.
Then I analyze the expectations from the advertisers and the different reader
groups. In the last section there is a summary of the findings where I sum up the
answers to my research questions.
5.1 Important values of the print magazine
5.1.1 Identified values
My data consisted of my notes, recordings and transcribes from the interviews with the
paper magazine readers. I analyzed the data by scanning transcribes for the activities
28
connected with using the paper magazine I then grouped them into different categories of
functions to understand the different values of the paper magazine.
The values from 1 to 7 are clearly connected to the physical property of the print
magazine, while the values from 8 to 12 seem to be of a more general character. But the
study shows that there are not only the values that are clearly connected with the physical
property that may be challenging to translate to a digital format, but also more general
values like “help to relax and focus” can be challenging.
5.1.1.1 Works as a reminder
The physical property of the paper magazine easily draws attention and therefore works
as a reminder. This seems to be a very important value in numerous ways. It reminds the
reader what she wants to read but also what the reader have read and learnt in the past.
The first is important because this reminder to read makes the reader read more. Many of
the print magazine subscribers placed magazines where they thought they would have
time to read. It could be by the bed and then when they went to bed they would see the
magazine and remember what they wanted to read.
“I have the magazine by my bed and then when I go to bed I remember if it is an
article I haven’t read yet and that I want to read.”M5
An important side effect the print magazine has when constantly reminding the reader to
read is that it puts pressure on the readers. The constant reminder to read the paper
magazine makes it easier to find the time to read. Many of the subscribers say they
usually end the subscriptions if they don’t read them for a while.
”Sometimes I end my subscriptions because I feel I don’t have the time to read, so
my reading really have different periods” M6
“We felt anxiety for not using any recipes after a while so then we had to end it, end
the subscription” M5
After the magazine has been read it functions as a reminder for things the reader thought
of when reading the magazine the first time. It can be actions like “buy a new lamp that
looks like the one on page 3” or “tell Mark to cook the dinner on page 14” or “google
related articles”. But the reminder also works to remind the readers what they have learnt
or thought which can make the reader remember the learning better and become more
knowledgeable in the area of interest.
“I can save a magazine because of a how-to article that I want to use sometime in
the future. But after that naturally I forget it, but when I read the magazine again
after half a year I remember what I wanted to do.” M4
The magazine can also be used to remember specific content in the magazine. Some
participants made dog-ears, notes or just ripped a page from the magazine. Others just
simply lay the magazine with the right spread up, but the most common thing was to do
nothing, because they found it easy to quickly flip through the pages and find the content
they needed.
“I put it in the way that the spread comes down, but I never do any doggy-ears.”
AOM1
29
To sum up the value of reminding, the print magazine reminds the reader what she wants
to read, what she have read, what actions she want to take and can also function to
remember where in the magazine she want to read.
5.1.1.2 Quick access
Many of the participants were describing how they would encounter the magazine in their
home or a bag. When they had a spare moment and for example sat down in the sofa to
rest they would find the magazine there and read for a little while. In those moments it was
an important property of the magazine to be active directly, there is no hassle to start
reading – just grab it and flip the pages. This was especially important for the readers that
used the magazine in the same time as they did other things, like watching TV or cooking
dinner.
5.1.1.3 Easy to bring
Many of the participants also describe that they bring the magazine with them to read
when they know they will have some extra minutes on a train, maybe on the way to the
work or waiting for their kids to finish some activity. The paper magazine is easy to bring,
because it’s light and it’s possible to fold it and roll it so it fits all kinds of bags. It is also
easy to tear out a page to bring to the supermarket or put up on the fridge.
”When the kids have an activity I bring a magazine and sit outside waiting for them
reading” AOM2
5.1.1.4 Careless usage
A print magazine is fairly cheap which makes it appropriate for careless usage, i.e.
reading while cooking, in the bathtub, on the beach or surrounded by kids. The reader can
feel relaxed reading the paper magazine and doesn’t have to be worried to lose it because
it is not that valuable, i.e. expensive.
“I like outdoor life and it’s not always good weather when I’m out camping, …, so
it’s good to have a print magazine that I can just throw away afterwards” AOM10
“With the increase of new modern devices the fear of doing certain things also
increases. Like for example I can’t play ping pong when I have my iPhone in my
pocket, because then I risk getting a crack in the display. Or maybe I can’t put my
jacket somewhere because of the risk of theft. So in a way it’s a bit inhibited with
modern technology” AOM9
5.1.1.5 Long lasting, good for archiving
The paper magazine is long lasting and suits well for archiving. Paper is very concrete in
the sense it is unchangeable and touchable and this seems to be something the collectors
like.
Many of the participants were collecting their magazines and it was for various reasons.
Some collectors said they re-read magazines to remember tip, analyze trends or get
inspired.
“..sometimes I save magazines when there are articles I haven’t had time to read, I
have so many magazines and so little time, so I don’t always have the time. But I
also save magazines with articles I want to read again or if there are recipes or
textile-patterns I want to keep.” AOM4
30
But many collectors didn’t go back to the magazines but they still wanted to keep them
like a “treasure of information” or out of respect for the content producers.
”we call the collection of magazines “our cooking treasure” and the idea is that we
will start using them some time in the future when we are old. The recipes in the
magazine are pretty expensive so it’s not the right time now when we have small
children.” AOM1
5.1.1.6 Easy to share
The paper magazine is easy to share. The participants that lived with others often shared
magazines within the household by putting them in a certain place, like a bookshelf or by
the sofa. Some of the participants also shared magazines with friends and neighbors in
this way.
“Because we are many people in the family that likes to read we keep the newest
magazine on a bench in the kitchen, then everyone knows where the newest one is”
AOM2
Some of the participants described how they sometimes read together with others. This
was usually in holidays or weekends when they were out camping, on the beach or in the
summerhouse. The print magazine is good because it’s easy to share and many people
can read in the same time if there are a few magazines, compared to reading web
magazine, where you need a hardware device for every person.
“The good thing with print magazine is that if I have two magazines I can always
lend one to a friend and we can read at the same time, but if I have a device with
digital magazines I can’t lend one away, because I just have one hardware device
even if I have many magazines on it.” AOM10
5.1.1.7 Stimulates paper cutting creativity
Many of the participants who had children described how the children used the magazine
to make collage and play with it.
“After I have read the magazine I give it to my children and they cut in them making
collage and so on.” M2
The magazines were not only used for inspiration for children, there were some
participants that cut out beautiful pictures for inspiration and made scrapbooks out of
them.
“I sometimes tear out beautiful pictures that I later can use as inspiration for photosets. My children are children models” AOM2
5.1.1.8 Builds identity and group affiliation
The readers explained that in some way “what you read is who you are.” Many of the
AOM readers told me that cooking was a very big interest and it was a part of their
identity. One of the web readers described how he carefully choose what he would give
time to read and he meant that he will change as a person depending on what interest he
choose to develop. This is a more general value of magazines but it is interesting how
magazines can be a part of the process of making us who we are. The most subscribers
31
had their magazines visible in their house and this reminder and communicator of identity
seems to be important.
”I and my sister’s wife share magazines. When she comes home to us she always
get stuck at the pile of magazines …we have the same interest.” M4
5.1.1.9 Helps relaxation and focus
Many participants describe the reading experience to be relaxing and they go into the
magazine bubble to take a break from the daily life. Many participants were reading in bed
or in the bathtub.
”I never look for something specific. I read to relax.” M2
The analogue physical property of a print magazine shields of the outside world and helps
the reader to focus her reading and relax. Many of the participants talked about the
negative side of reading online and how they couldn’t focus, but got distracted all the time
by mail or other things they would remember to do. But with the print magazine, they
could sit down and go into their own bubble. Many of the participants waited for the right
moment to read, when they were all alone.
“I prefer to read when there is some peace and quiet. Mama is really a magazine I
want to give some time.” M5
5.1.1.10 Entertains and Adds splendor to one’s life
Participants described that they read magazines to entertain themselves and to add some
splendor in life. A paper magazine is relatively cheap and is seen for many as affordable
luxury. Many participants described the magazine as a “portion of affordable luxury”. They
explained how they can’t buy the expensive clothes in the ads, but they can look at them
in the magazine and daydream.
”The magazine can show me all the beautiful things and I can daydream”,
MailAOM5
Two participants describe how they use the Allt om Mat magazine to enhance a boring
meal by reading about delicious cooking.
“I read Allt om Mat especially, well this will sound strange, but when I’m eating
boring food. Then I usually look in a food magazine at the same time as I eat. It
increases the experience and value of eating boring meals.” AOM2
5.1.1.11 Educates
Many of the subscribers view the subscription as a course where they wanted to learn
something. Some of the Allt om Mat subscribers had food and wine as a passion and big
interest in their life while other said they were bad chefs but wanted to force themselves to
learn. Still both groups wanted to learn more about food and wine. One of the participants
even studied the wine reviews to know them by heart. He began doing this when he was
working with wine and it was handy to remember the reviews but now he does it because
wine is a big interest.
32
5.1.1.12 Inspires
Many participants from the Allt om Mat group said they read to get inspiration. They also
go back and read magazines over again after a while to get inspiration for example on
what to cook.
5.1.2 Differences between the magazines
5.1.2.1 Specifically important values for Mama Readers
All of the Mama readers wanted the reading experience to be relaxing and entertaining.
For most of the Mama readers it was very important to be isolated from the surroundings.
The Mama readers, all except for two, wanted to read alone, relaxed in the sofa, bathtub
or in some other comfortable place and carefully choose a time for reading when they
wouldn’t be disturbed.
“I read the Mama magazines when I have some peace and quiet, maybe with a cup
of coffee. I read it more carefully, preferably when it’s nothing else going on.
“AOM1
”I don’t like to read on the computer, I prefer the print magazine, because when
reading on the computer I get reminded of all other things I should do, like
checking mail. So then I can’t relax.” M6
There were a difference between the “just had/will have a baby” participants and the
participants who had been mothers for a while. The first group described the Mama
magazine almost as a course were they learned about being a parent and what they
would need to buy. The second group described how the magazine first of all was used to
relax.
“In the Mama magazine I even look and read all the ads, it can give me really good
tip on what I need to buy. But to be pregnant with my first child is very special thing
and I really read everything in the Mama magazine and I find so much to be very
interesting right now.” M5
5.1.2.2 Specifically important values for Allt om Mat readers
Almost all the Allt om Mat subscribers collect their magazines, some just up to a few years
but many of them said they never through Allt om Mat magazines. The Allt om Mat
collectors think the content in the magazines is good to use for many years. Some say
they go back for inspiration or specific recipes. Some cut out specific recipes to make
cookbooks, but a majority collected the whole magazines. Some of the participants said
they collected the magazines even if they never used them but they didn’t want to through
away the Allt om Mat magazines out of respect for the writers.
”The archiving pile is for the AOM magazines only, the Mama magazines goes
directly to the recycle bin, I don’t save them. I can keep the photography magazines
for a little while, but it feels more timeless with recipes than with technology.”
AOM1
Allt om Mat was often read and used in the kitchen, cooking specific recipes from the
magazine. Some people also took the magazine with them to the grocery shop to get
some inspiration and help when grocery shopping.
33
Most of the Allt om Mat subscribers had a big interest in food and cooking and used the
magazine to get inspiration and learn new things. One participant even studied the wine
reviews to remember them without having to look in the paper magazine.
“I have many food and wine magazines at work so I can use them as reference …,
now I do it just because I’m interested, but before I studied the wine reviews in the
purpose of work, so I didn’t have to flip pages in the shop” AOM8
But there were some participants who were not so interested in cooking and some
described themselves as a bad cooks. Those people tended to see the subscription as a
course that they followed to cook better food at home or surprise friends with their cooking
learning’s.
5.2 Reader and advertising expectations on the digital magazine
To analyze the expectations I created a huge matrix where I compared the different
participants. In this section I present some findings from the analysis.
5.2.1 The target group not just the existing subscribers nor the existing advertisers
When looking at the interest for the digital magazine, the web reader group is more
interested both to test and to buy digital magazines than the two print groups. There is also a
difference in interest between the print groups, where the readers from the Allt om Mat
reader group is slightly more interested than the Mama reader group.
The participants who are interested or very interested in digital magazines are the ones who
are also expecting a lot of new features and digital content. They are not interested in a
digital magazine that only offers plain pages with text, they expect to watch video, share
articles with friends and use all kinds of digital services.
The advertising professionals expect a somewhat different group of advertisers comparing to
the print magazine. They believe the advertisers will be more digitally mature or premium
brands. They also believe that brands that target themselves towards men will be more
interested to use the new channel.
5.2.2 Expected high level of interactivity and features
Both the readers who are interested in digital magazines and the advertisers wish and expect
the digital magazine to make use out of the digital possibilities and become truly interactive
but still respect the reading experience. They expect to use many new features like video,
interactive animations, recommending articles, video and search. Many of those features are
seen as hygiene features that are expected to exist right away.
5.2.3 The expected advantages and disadvantages differs between the reader groups
Two out of three Mama readers have negative reactions toward the concept of digital
magazines. They don’t think it is relaxing or cozy to read from a screen. It’s the easy
access to the digital world that stresses many of the participants and they believe this will
destroy the reading experience. They think there is a risk that when the digital world is so
close they can’t focus and start thinking about work mail, Facebook, news or other parts of
their online life.
A majority of the Allt om Mat participants doesn’t understand the purpose of a digital
magazine and are mostly negative, but there reasons to be negative are somewhat
34
different to the Mama readers. The negative Allt om Mat readers think the tablet is too
fragile and the digital magazine is to abstract to collect and to collect the magazines is of
big importance for most of the Allt om Mat subscribers. The positive Allt om Mat readers
have high expectations on the new format and wish for new exiting features. They believe
it will be easier to collect recipes with the expected new services and easier to find recipes
with the search functions. If those and other extra features and services satisfy their
expectations they would like to start subscribe digitally and don’t have to keep the paper
magazine subscription.
All web readers are very positive to the digital magazine. The disadvantages they expect
mostly have to do with underdeveloped hardware but also the prize of the digital
magazines. They believe the advantage with digital magazines is that they can go to one
place where they can trust the selected articles. They also expect a lot of new functionality
and integration with the web but in the same time they expect a more peaceful reading
experience with the possibility to read long texts and an easy overview of the pre selected
content.
One out of three of the Mama readers can see advantages with the digital magazine in
some situations, like when travelling. Also the environmental aspect is mentioned as an
advantage. But even the more positive Mama participant’s wants to keep their Mama
paper magazine subscription, but they think the digital magazine can work as a good
complement to the paper magazine where they can buy other magazines or surf the web.
The positive Allt om Mat readers mentioned the expected search functionality and the
possibility to organize their recipes in new easier ways. They were also looking forward to
video content and different services where they could find inspiration or change recipes in
different ways e.g. change the number of portions or find substitute for ingredients. The
most interested Allt om Mat readers thought they would only subscribe to the digital
magazine if their expectations on new features were satisfied.
5.2.4 The consumer price depends on the value of the new digital services
There is a will to pay for the digital magazine, even between the web readers. Everyone
except one participant from the web reader group said they would pay for content but it
has to be cheaper than a paper magazine. The participant that wouldn’t pay said he didn’t
believe the magazine could offer anything he wouldn’t find for free on the web. Including
the paper magazine readers all participants believe the price should be lower,
approximately half the price of a paper magazine, but they believe that the price can be
higher if the digital magazine include features and services that bring real value to the
magazine experience.
It is important to remember that the participants who are interested in the digital magazine
expect many new features to begin with. There seem to be some hygiene features that
the readers expect to find in the digital magazine. Those hygiene features differ between
participants but the possibility to recommend articles and watch video seem to be hygiene
factors. This mean the digital magazine have to invent other services in the digital
magazine to make it more valuable to the user and this would make the user want to pay
a higher price.
35
5.2.5 Complementary products expected
Many of the print magazine readers who were interested in digital magazines still wanted to
keep their paper magazine subscriptions but viewed the digital magazines as complement to
the paper magazine. They thought they would buy single copies of other magazines or if they
could subscribe to both the digital and the print magazine they hoped the digital version
included valuable digital services and not just the same articles as in the print magazine.
The web readers and the paper readers who were the most interested in the digital magazine
only wanted to subscribe to the digital magazine. Still they thought that the paper magazine
could complement the digital in some ways. One participant thought that the paper magazine
should work as a teaser to the fully developed digital magazine. Others thought they would
complement and buy single copies of paper magazines if they were going to the beach or to
some other place where a tablet wouldn’t be practical.
5.2.6 Advertisers expects the digital magazine to help out in the production of
interactive advertising
The advertiser’s expectations on the advertising platform are high and they are excited over
the new digital possibilities. They see the benefits the new channel bring advertising, i.e.
personalization can make advertising more relevant, interactive advertising gives effective
communication and the possibility to bring the consumer useful services directly into the ads.
The advertisers also see challenges, i.e. the costs producing extra material, the internal
organizations were the digital and the print group usually are separated and the lack of
knowledge in developing digital advertising.
Still, they stay optimistic and believe the digital magazine will help the advertisers overcome
the challenges by supporting the production of interactive advertising so the advertisers
doesn’t have to spend too much money on the development
5.3 Summary of the Findings
The print magazine has many different values that all contribute to the magazine
experience and most of them are important to the reading experience. Answering my first
research question; what are the values of the print magazine? I found a number of
important values of the paper magazine; works as a reminder, quick access, ease to
bring, careless usage, long lasting/good for archiving, easy to share, stimulates paper
cutting creativity, builds identity &group affiliation, relaxes and focuses the mind,
entertains, educates and inspires.
If the publishers want the digital magazine to deliver similar conditions for long focused
reading as the print magazine, the digital magazine should develop features to include or
enhance those values. The interviews with the readers show that the readers that are
interested in digital magazines expects a better reading experience for long texts than the
web as well as new digital content and services in the magazine.
The second part of my study concerned the second research question; what are the
expectations from a reader and advertiser perspective for the digital magazine?
Summing up the findings the web readers are more interested in the digital magazine than
the print readers. Half of the print readers are very negative and not interested at all while
the other half is interested but most of them wouldn’t give up their print magazine
subscription. The participants that show interest for the digital magazine are expecting a
36
lower price and more functionality compared with the print magazine but a better interface
and more qualitative content that the web.
The advertisers also expect a high level of interactivity in the digital magazines and want
to measure as much as possible. They believe the advertising for the digital magazines
should be more similar to the web than print and they don’t believe print advertising will
work in the new format.
6. Discussion
In this part I discuss the findings of my study and explore my question How should
the digital magazine develop to offer the best magazine experience? I discuss both
the implications my findings have on the product development of the digital
magazine as well as the business model. First I discuss the implications on the
product development and some different digital solutions for creating a similar
reading experience on the digital magazine as in the print magazine plus the role of
the digital magazine in respect to other magazine products. Secondly, I discuss
different aspects of the business model of the digital magazine and challenges for
the publishing houses. Last I discuss possible critics and further research.
6.1 Implications on the product development
6.1.1 High Expectations on level of interactivity and new features
The developers should not use the mental model of print. Usability tests show that
readers only get confused when digital magazines use the mental model of print. (Budiu,
R. & Nielsen, J., 2010). My findings show that the readers expect to use digital features
like search, video and for headlines to be clickable and they are not interested in digital
magazines if it just consist of “dead pages”. Still the mental model of the web may not be
good either. The readers expect a better and more relaxed reading experience than the
web. The digital magazine should be its own world for the users to feel relaxed and focus
when reading the magazine.
All readers that showed interest for the new format expected a high level of interactivity
and new features and services and in the same time they expect a better reading
experience than on the web. They participants who are interested in digital magazines
wish the digital magazines to be interactive and include exciting new features like video,
animations etc but when the reader has started to read a long article there should be no
distractions. In this way they hope the digital magazine can combine two great worlds.
It the digital magazine experience and its content doesn’t become considerably better
than the free content online, readers will not want to pay. (The Nielsen Company, 2010)
6.1.2 Translating values from print to digital
From the findings of this study it is clear that the readers wish the digital magazine to offer
a better and more relaxed reading experience than the web. This study has also identified
several values of the paper magazine that are important for the magazine experience.
Some of them are difficult to translate into digital like “careless usage” and “Stimulates
paper cutting creativity” so if the magazine wants its readers to enjoy those values the
magazine has the need of complementing the digital magazine with paper premium
products. Those print premium products can then for example be used on the beach.
37
Then we have other values of the paper magazine that can be translated into a digital
format by adding certain digital features. Below are some possible solutions to bring the
values of the print magazine experience to the future magazine.
To remember
•Game
components
•E-learning
•Facebook page
•History
•Mobile “reminder
apps”
Easy to bring
•Mobile apps
Relaxes
• Avoid
hyperlinks to
websites
• Let the user
stay in the
magazine app
Physical notes to
help memory
Long lasting and
good for archiving
•Mobile app
•Bookmark
•Trusted web
service
•Premium print
products
Quick access
Easy to share
•Minimize startup
time
•Easy to share on
Facebook, mail
etc
Entertains
Educates
• Extra material
• Immersive
advertising
• Interactive
animations
• “Tests”
Careless usage
•Premium print
products
Builds identity
•Social Networks
•Facebook page
Inspires
• Possibility to
make a
“scrapbook”
• Star content
FIGURE 17: FEATURES TO BRING THE IDENTIFIED VALUES OF PRINT INTO THE DIGITAL MAGAZINE OFFER
To remember
One important value of the print magazine was to constantly remind the reader to read,
take action or remember what have been read before. The digital magazine should
develop services to help the reader remember. It is probably good to look at the game and
e-learning industry for inspiration on how to do this. Many print readers compared reading
a magazine with taking a course so digital magazine developers can probably take
learning’s from the existing e-learning software. To remind the reader to read and take
actions the digital magazine can include game components that push the user to read.
This is necessary to make up for the lack of visible reminders comparing to the print
magazine and give the readers an extra incentive to read more. An example could be
different kinds of quiz games where the reader can get extra material or bonuses.
A way of helping the readers remember to read is to have an integrated mobile app, were
the user can sync content. It could be articles the readers wish to read on the bus or
advertisement with addresses, offers or other information the user would value while on
38
the run. In a mobile application there could also be updates from the web magazine or
discussions that the user is part of. The print magazine also functions as a reminder to the
users of what they have read and learnt. A way to make this possible also when using a
digital magazine can be to offer some kind of “history service” where the user can see
what she have read or liked reading in the past.
Long lasting and good for archiving
Many readers are collectors and those people will want to continue to collect. The
magazine should offer premium print products that are more luxury and appropriate to
collect. Those products can be more luxury than the paper magazine or personalized for
the user. All the digital magazines should be reachable from the web and possible to
download to different devices. If the tablet hardware disappears or the user wants to
change device or just free some memory from the device it should be easy to download
them over again when wanted.
Careless Usage
This is a tricky value to translate, the “carless usage” of the digital magazine all depends on
how expensive and fragile the hardware is. Maybe in the future the hardware will be easy to
swop but in the near future this will not be the case. Instead the magazine should offer
complementary print magazine products for careless use.
Builds Identity
Instead of reminding yourself and showing friends what you read by placing the
magazines in the bookshelf, the users can show this in social networks like Facebook.
Social networks make it even easier to show ones identity to others than inviting the
home.
Easy to share
Another value of the print magazine is that it is
very easy to give to someone, to make it as
easy to share digital magazines; the digital
magazines should be platform independent. If
the digital magazines are supported on all kind
of tablet hardware and also accessible from
computers it will be easy to give a subscription
as a gift without having to find out what kind of
technology the person has in advance. It is
also important that the reader can recommend
and share articles easily on Facebook or my
mail.
FIG URE 18: THE FACEBOO K PAGE FOR ALLT
OM MAT
Easy to bring
Even if the iPad is more easy to bring than a
laptop it is still less easy to bring compared with a paper magazine. Many participants in
my study wish to sync content or notes to a mobile app to use when on the run.
Quick Access
It’s very important that it doesn’t take long time to start the magazine application and it is
important that the hardware doesn’t take long to start either.
39
Relaxed reading
To make the reading experience as relaxed as
possible it is important to create some barriers for
the reader to leave the digital magazine. It can be
done by a prompt with the question “Are you sure
you want to leave the digital magazine?” making
sure the reader understands she will leave the
magazine. The digital magazine can also work with
the possibility to open web pages inside the
magazine and make it very easy for the user to
close the website window and continue reading the FIG URE 19: A PROMPT
digital magazine. The digital magazine should offer DIGITAL MAGAZINE
the advertisers easy ways to interact with the
readers without the reader having to leave the magazine application.
FRO M W IRED
Educates
Titles that want to be educative and inspirational should take a bigger responsibility for
their “course members” the readers. The digital magazine can use the digital possibilities
and create pedagogic interactive animations for the user to get a better understanding and
knowledge. The magazine can also have small tests where the reader can test her
knowledge.
Inspires
The findings show how many collectors go back to magazines or scrapbooks they have
saved for inspiration. This function could be made as a digital scrapbook service where
the user can go back for inspiration but this feature will probably only be appreciated for
some titles. With extra material like beautiful pictures and engaging interactive articles and
advertisement the digital magazine can give a feeling of luxury and inspire.
5.1.3 The different components of a magazine
The future magazine will exist of many different magazine components not only the print
and the digital magazine but the web site of the magazines will become more important.
Today the number of web sites for magazines is increasing. (MPA Handbook 2010/11,
2010) On the web site new potential subscribers can get to know the magazine and
existing readers can participate in online discussions, read blogs and news. The pace can
be quicker and the news that suits being updated in real time should be in the web
magazine. From my study participants also hope to be able to access their digital
magazines from the web site.
40
FIG URE 20: DIFFERENT CO MPONENTS OF THE MAGAZINE
From my study it also indicates that it is important for the magazine to be on other
platforms like social networking sites like Facebook or on mobile phones. The magazine
should use those platforms to develop services that make the magazine experience
better. On Facebook the user can keep updated with the news from the magazine but also
to show identity and share preferences with friends, this will make the whole magazine
experience more valuable for the consumer. All the components will be part of the future
magazine and will be combined in different ways for different kind of consumer segments.
6.2 Implications on the business model
6.2.1 The value proposition: a caring service
From my study it shows the digital magazine should be an interactive publication and not just
a digital replica of the print version. It should offer an exciting and fun interactive reading
experience where text is combined with video and animations. The magazine should help the
reader to develop her interest and take bigger responsibility for her development. The
magazine service should be offered not only through the digital magazine but also on other
platforms like the web or the mobile phone.
6.2.2 The market segment: Not just existing readers
The users of digital magazines are not just existing paper magazine subscribers. Many of
the paper magazines subscribers will not want to give up their paper magazine but maybe
complement with digital services. Other studies also show that most existing subscribers
want to keep their paper magazine but between new subscribers there is a majority that
wants to have the digital magazine only (MPA, 2010) The new subscribers who are more
“digital” should be a target group. This group will expect a high level of interactivity and
new features.
There are probably categories of magazines that will suit better in a digital version. From
this study it seems like the more practical food magazine, Allt om Mat, is more suited than
the lifestyle magazine for moms, Mama. This could be because the food magazine is used
in a more practical and educative way while the lifestyle magazine is used more often to
relax.
41
6.2.3 The cost structure: Freemium + Advertising
In my study the readers wanted to pay less for the digital magazine than the print and at
the same time they expected more features. This together with that the advertising
professionals saw a potential in an interactive advertising platform for the digital magazine
points in the direction of an advertising model combined with a freemium model. There is
a will to pay for digital magazines. This is shown both by my study and by several
others(MPA,2010)(The Nielsen Company, 2010) even if the expected price is much lower
than the price for paper magazines.
The freemium model will be feature limited(Kincaid, J.,2009). The magazine users will
pay for the premium products, like the print and/or the digital magazine but also other
premium services and products. The free part of the magazine product should be the web
site that should offer all commodity services like social networking services but also blogs
and other content.
There is also a big chance to develop the advertising in the digital magazine more
creatively and make it more valuable for the advertisers.(Gordon, J, 2010) This can make
up for the lower subscription prices.
There are alternatives to create more valuable magazine offers to the user. One way is for
the magazine to bundle the print or the digital magazine with different kind of premium
products. Another alternative many participants in my study ask for are more flexible
subscription model for the digital magazines where the subscriber can choose different
magazine titles every month. This could bring in new subscribers but then it’s necessary
to partner up with other publishers or companies offering related premium products to be
able to offer the best and most flexible solution.
Advertising
There is a big opportunity for the publishers to offer an exciting new platform for
advertising. (Gordon, J., 2010) It’s not only the advertisers that will benefit from innovative
and fun advertising but it can bring value to the “soul” of the magazine and maybe create
that feeling of luxury that readers experience with paper magazines. Relevance is always
key and with the possibilities to measure unique users the advertising can become even
more relevant for the readers.
The advertisers should be supported in making interactive and engaging advertising with
animations, video, games etc., both the magazine and the advertiser benefits if the
readers stay in the magazine application. To make this possible it’s important that the
publisher make it easier for the advertisers by offering modules and clear specifications.
There is a risk that the digital magazine becomes too heavy, hence the digital magazine
has to find the right balance between size and time it should take to download.
Premium services for the magazine
Both the print magazine and the digital magazine are premium services to the web
magazine, but there is big potential in creating other premium services for the magazine
users. The premium services will of course differ for every magazine. From my study I
have collected some ideas for premium content for the Allt om Mat magazine.
There is a big value in collecting recipes and making personal cookbooks for the Allt om
Mat subscribers. If the site of the magazine offers a free service were their users can
collect recipes and make their own digital recipe books online, an premium service can be
42
where the users can buy a print version of the personal digital cookbook. Many users will
prefer to use a print cookbook in the kitchen, collect or give to friends. There could also be
other print premium products like cook books from famous chefs or restaurants. Other
premium products can be different kind of mobile apps like a “shopping inspiration- app”
or “wine review-app” those services should be bundled with a subscription as a premium
subscription offering. There can also be a demand other products like niche e-learning
courses, real life courses in wine tasting, ecologic foods etc., food travels or home
delivered grocery bags. It could be a good idea to partner up with companies that can
offer related products.
6.2.4 The value network: many different mediators
The value network consists of readers, advertiser and actors on the content
market.(Halfstrand,H., 2002) . The magazine has become more complex and consists of
different magazine products. It is important that the different products of a magazine, i.e.
the web, the paper magazine, the digital magazine, Facebook page and other premium
services cooperate well, they all belong to the same club and should work together to
satisfy readers, advertisers and the content market.
FIG URE21: THE VALUE NETW ORK OF THE MAGAZINE
It is important to partner up with the right readers, advertisers and content and with the
new technology the mediating magazine can bring those members even closer. For
example we have the readers who have been become used to the participatory culture on
the web. The magazine offer the readers to become more active on the magazine site and
participate in discussions, blogs and contribute with for example video material, like funny
cooking tip or grandmas recipes.
It’s not only important to find the right readers, advertisers and content it’s also important
for the magazine to partner up with other publishers or companies that can exchange
value through premium products and innovative subscription offerings.
43
6.3 Challenges for the publishing companies
FIGURE 22: CHALLENGES FOR PUBLISHING COMPANIES
There publishing companies will meet many challenges developing the digital magazine.
The change within the internal organization of the magazine can be a challenge. All the
different parts of the magazine have to co-operate and the editorial team has to work in
new ways.
The publishing houses will also be new competition when they go digital. First there are
international magazines that will compete with the national digital magazines for local
advertisers if the advertising will use location based personalization. The publishers will
also meet competition from other types of media companies like TV due to the media
convergence. Secondly there are web magazines and communities on the web that will
compete for readers. The tablet devices will make the web reading experience better and
there is a risk for the traditional publishers that the web companies will be better offering
the customers truly valuable digital services over the web or through native applications.
There will also be higher production costs to create digital immersive content. Either the
digital magazine has to have big financial muscles or it has to find partners to offer the
best content.
To compete and offer the most valuable services most publishing companies will need to
find new partners to create the best offerings. This could be other publishers to create
flexible subscription models or other premium content producers.
6.4 Possible critics
There is a lot of ongoing research in the field of digital magazines and this has been a
great challenge to constantly keep updated by the latest research. The conditions have
been changed constantly through my study, i.e. new digital magazines have been
published and new hardware has been launched. I have had to limit my research to
search for implications on the product development from a reader and advertiser point of
view.
When studying the first research question, the study have found a number of values for
the paper magazine but it doesn’t weigh the values, e.g. what values are more important
than others. There is also the risk it exists important values that this study has missed out
on. Different solutions to translate the values to the digital magazine are presented in the
discussion part. Those are of course just examples of possible solutions and it can exist
better solutions create the same value to the reader.
6.5 Further research
One interesting question which I only touched upon in this study is the willingness to pay
for digital content by “web readers”. In my study all except one said they would pay for
digital content, but further quantitative research is needed. It’s also interesting to know
more about what content the “web readers” want to pay for and what pay model they
would prefer.
44
There seem to be a change in attitudes regarding the objectivity of a magazine by the
readers. Many of the participants were reading magazines published by companies like
HM, Stadium etc. and didn’t care if content is sponsored by commercial companies as
long as the content is relevant and of good quality. The participants in my study thought
media companies had as much interest of their own as commercial companies. It would
be interesting to study the potential change in attitudes towards “objective journalism”.
Maybe this could open up for a more intense relationship with publishers and a few
advertisers to produce content together.
•
Journalistic objectivity outdated? As long as the source is visible. Can the
magazines benefit from a closer relationship with some advertisers?
•
The publisher can offer the digital magazine platform to companies to reach their
customers with their own digital magazines
Also I think research on how game components can be used to remind people to read and
act would be an interesting topic.
45
References
ABI research. (2010). Smartphone Downloads from Mobile App Stores to Peak in
2013. Available: http://www.abiresearch.com/press/1651Smartphone+Downloads+from+Mobile+App+Stores+to+Peak+in+2013. Last accessed 2
sep 2010.
Apple press release. (2010). Apple Launches iPad. Available:
http://www.apple.com/pr/library/2010/01/27ipad.html. Last accessed 2 sep 2010.
Budiu, R., Nielsen, J.. (2010). Usability of iPad Apps and Websites.Available:
http://www.nngroup.com/reports/mobile/ipad/. Last accessed 3 Oct 2010.
Carr, N. (2008). Is Google Making Us Stupid. Available:
http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2008/07/is-google-making-usstupid/6868/. Last accessed 30 sep 2010.
Chesbrough, H., & Rosenbloom, S., R. (2002). The role of the business model in capturing
value from innovation: evidence from Xerox Corporation’s technology spin-off companies
[Electronic version].Industrial and Corporate Change, 11(3), 529-555.
Forsberg, E. (2010). Mobila datatrafiken fördubblades under 2009.Available:
http://www.internetstatistik.se/content/2538-mobila-datatrafiken-fordubblades-under2009.html. Last accessed 2 sep 2010.
Gizmodo. (2010). Google Tablet Reportedly Launching Nov. 26th on Verizon. Available:
http://gizmodo.com/5615724/google-tablet-reportedly-launching-nov-26th-on-verizon.
Last accessed 2 sep 2010.
Gordon, J. (2010). The Case for Advertising in Interactive Digital Magazines. Available:
http://www.smartermediasales.com/digitalmagazines.html. Last accessed 2 sep 2010.
Hafstrand, H. (2002) ,“Competitive Advantage in the Magazine Publishing Business. A
Resource-Based Perspective” , Nordicom Review 1-2/2002. Special Issue: The 15th Nordic
Conference on Media and Communication Research
Husson, T.,(2010) 2010 Mobile Trends, Gartner Report
Kincaid, J. (2009). Startup School: Wired Editor Chris Anderson On Freemium Business
Models. Available: http://techcrunch.com/2009/10/24/startup-school-wired-editor-chrisanderson-on-freemium-business-models/. Last accessed 2 sep 2010.
Kvale, (1996), “Interviews: An Introduction to Qualitative Research Interviewing”
MacMillan, D et al. (2009). Inside the App Economy. Available:
http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/09_44/b4153044881892.htm.
Miller, P. (2010). The Dawn of the Tablet PC: CES Roundup. Available:
http://www.pcworld.com/article/186281/the_dawn_of_the_tablet_pc_ces_2010_roundup
.html. Last accessed 2 sep 2010.
MPA. (2010). 2010/11 Magazine Handbook. Available:
http://www.magazine.org/advertising/handbook/Magazine_Handbook.aspx. Last
accessed 2 sep 2010.
46
Pennwell. (2010). Subscriber Study PennWell. Available:
www.bpaww.com/Bpaww_com/HTML/resources/2010/PennWell.ppt. Last accessed 2 sep
2010.
Shane, D. (2010). Fragmented platforms. Available: http://www.informationage.com/channels/comms-and-networking/company-analysis/1268363/fragmentedplatforms.thtml. Last accessed 2 sep 2010.
Stabell, C. and Fjeldstad, Ö. (1998) Configuring Value for Competitive Advantage: On
Chains, Hops and Networks. Strategic Management Journal, Vol 19, 1998.
Taft, D. (2010). Developers Want Bigger Slice Of App Store Sales.Available:
http://www.eweekeurope.co.uk/news/developers-want-bigger-slice-of-app-store-sales6976. Last accessed 2 sep 2010.
The Nielsen Company. (2010). Changing Models: A Global Perspective on Paying for
Content Online. Available: http://blog.nielsen.com/nielsenwire/global/changing-modelsa-global-perspective-on-paying-for-content-online/. Last accessed 2 sep 2010.
Vahlberg, V., (2010) Fitting into their lives - A Survey of Three Studies About Youth Media
Usage, Newspaper Association of America
Ziv, Y. (2010). 5 Reasons Google and Search Won’t Dominate The Next
Decade. Available: http://mashable.com/2010/04/29/google-search-wont-dominate/.
Last accessed 2 sep 2010.
47
TRITA-CSC-E 2010:140
ISRN-KTH/CSC/E--10/140--SE
ISSN-1653-5715
www.kth.se