Innovation is key to finding publishers' future revenues

Tue, 9 Feb 2010 | By Suzanne Bearne

Last week new media age revealed Future Publishing plans to launch an interactive weekly magazine, First Play, on the Sony PlayStation Network (nma 4 February 2010).

It’s an interesting and innovative move. The content deal will bring a new audience to Future’s content and give users a rich experience where they can play exclusive games and demos.

Then there are the revenues. Future will make money from two types of charging methods: users can access the magazine for either a small weekly payment or an annual subscription. Plus there are additional revenues from advertising, with pre-rolls and sponsorship opportunities.

If Dennis Publishing’s ezines are anything to go by, there could be real advertising success here due to their interactive nature. Dennis CEO James Tye told me last year that click-through rates for some of its ezine campaigns had been as high as 7% (nma 8 October 2009).

With further platforms always being created, such as the Kindle, iPad and mobile apps, publishers can’t afford to relax as the pace of innovation keeps advancing.

Publishers need to test opportunities to earn revenues from these new platforms, like The Guardian has with the iPhone, and be more innovative in their approach. With the PlayStation there’s an opportunity to build a loyal user base and, ultimately, find new revenue streams.

Have your say

Please do not complete the following form field for security reasons.

Name

E-mail

Comment

Post as

Anonymously

Display name

I have read and agree to the terms and conditions