Does the multiplatform expansion of magazines mean that the brand now transcends the delivery platform?
An important question and as our Magnify study has taken to the road, presented over 20 times to date, it is one of two important themes to have emerged - advertorials and tablets.
The first one is easier to handle as it’s clear that a better understanding of advertorials is very much on our markets’ mind.
Fortunately, part of Magnify addresses this, as do a number of EU and US studies, and collectively we will have something to share with the advertising community soon.
The second point relates to exploring the multiplatform expansion of magazine brands, in particular on to the tablet.
Just this week the LBi suggested that someone watching catch-up TV on an iPad is very different from someone watching the TV in their living room.
Maybe, but I wonder. Was the ‘me’ watching Sherlock on the iPad at 10.00pm very different to the ‘me’ watching it on TV at 9.59pm? Did I watch the show any more or less intently?
Had BBC iPlayer been carrying adverts would they have been any more of less relevant to me?
Magazine brands and content transcend the delivery platform. The platform is a means to transport ideas, but it is the ideas that really count.
What the tablet does bring of course is the tangible facility to engage more with content that we like.
A recent magazine study found that the average reading time of their printed edition is 65 minutes - the average reading time of their App edition is 200 minutes.
This does not undermine the appeal of the printed version. Readers read it for 65 minutes because it takes 65 minutes to read. They spend 200 minutes with the tablet version because there is 200 minutes of entertainment and information to be gleaned.
Maybe that’s a consideration for those who benchmark a medium’s influencing ability by the time consumers spend with it.
Is that a measure of consumer preference or pages? Or how fast they can read? Perhaps if they read slower, maybe mouthing each word as they went it would mean more?
What this study says clearly to me is that if the brand fits with a reader’s lifestyle, then when they can get more of it, they will.
Magazine brands and content transcend the delivery platform. The platform is a means to transport ideas, but it is the ideas that really count.
Going back to Sherlock, where a magazine finds ever more relevant means to distribute more of its brand to readers, then those readers that already have the motive, will find the opportunity to consume it.
So, does the multiplatform expansion of magazines mean that the brand now transcends the delivery platform?
When it comes to magazines we think the simple answer is yes.
James Papworth is the PPA Marketing Director
james.papworth@ppa.co.uk