Summary
Publishers are diversifying away from the traditional free, ad-supported digital model in increasingly innovative ways – from crowd-funding to subscription-based apps. The tipping point in this trend could be Andrew Sullivan's decision to go independent and charge readers $20 a year for full access to his ad-free site, The Dish, rather than stay with a large, free-to-access, ad-supported online publisher. Apple, and its Newsstand app, stands to be the big winner from the trend. This Snapshot includes examples of brands ahead of the curve.

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In this article, Liz Schimel, chief digital officer for Meredith National Media Group, talks about the media group's content marketing strategy, which covers everything from providing media duties for Kraft to forming a tie-up with Walmart to promote its own Better Homes and Gardens magazines. It is also making progress on the web and mobile, with platforms like Allrecipes.com providing an increasingly wide range of monetisation options.

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This report from the 2012 Festival of Media Latin America covers a panel discussion on the future of the region’s print media, in which some speakers argued that print must change into a 'haute couture' product with more compelling content and imagery in order to survive. However, the speakers were generally upbeat about print’s future, arguing that it could and would exist alongside digital (citing the example of theatre coexisting with movies). A contributor from The Economist, however, described how the title was experiencing a boost in digital subscriptions, which it prices lower than its print edition to reflect its lower costs of production and distribution.

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This paper provides an overview of the global periodical publishing industry. The paper gives a snapshot summary, with additional sections on the industry's development, organisation and structure, current conditions and its leading companies and countries. It contains a list of further information sources and reading.

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At the 4A's Transformation 2010 conference, Chris Anderson, editor at Wired, presented their approach to creating an iPad offering of their magazine. The challenge of producing a tablet version was not a content one but a business model one. It is intended to utilise the funcionality of the technology, such as the ability to rotate images 360 degrees, more than traditional, adapted-from-print publications. Anderson views the tablet format as also providing the most measurable advertising ever, as metrics are developed to assess how users interact with the product.

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Geoffrey Precourt, Warc's U.S. editor, reports from the 4A's annual Leadership Conference, Transformation 2010. This article covers the session, "A Message from Magazine Industry Leaders", with speakers Cathleen Black (president, Hearst Corporation); Jack Griffin, president, National Media Group, Meredith Corporation; and Ann Moore (chairman and ceo, Time Inc.). They argue that magazine readership is higher than ever and look to correct some myths of the effect of digital on the state of print magazines. A campaign has been launched to make advertisers aware of the power of magazines, supported by organisations such as Condé Nast and Time Warner, as well as individual titles like National Geographic.

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In this article, WARC Online's U.S. Editor, Geoffrey Precourt, discusses the 'Google perspective' on the challenges and opportunities facing magazine publishers, as part of his coverage of the 2008 American Magazine Conference. Online offers a variety of opportunities to publishers, from providing specialist content to niche audiences to aggregating information for mass consumption, all in a way which is much more measurable than in print. Magazines, however, currently have the advantage of providing more respected, high-quality content than the vast majority of web portals. In this regard, magazines are often held in higher regard even than newspapers. As such, Google ceo Eric Schmidt argues that websites are effectively co-dependent on more traditional publishers for the sort of cutting-edge, accurate content that readers desire, whether online or offline. Magazines that innovate (and which are also willing to make mistakes) will be the ones that prosper online, and which ultimately offer both web users and advertisers the value they are looking for.

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WARC's U.S. Editor Geoffrey Precourt reports from the American Magazines 2008 conference in San Francisco, on the story behind the CSR-focused Good Magazine. Based on a presentation from Good ceo Jonathan Greenblatt, it also covers four trends likely to benefit socially motivated magazines and their advertisers - environmentalism, globalization, inequity and uncertainty - and how, when businesses and social responsibility march in linked step, "an economy of integrity" benefits marketers and consumers alike.

Summary
In this article, Geoffrey Precourt, WARC Online's U.S. Editor, provides a preview of the 2008 American Magazine Conference. As well as discussing the issues that face magazine publishers - including the impact of the economic slowdown on advertising revenues - he looks at the topics under discussion at the conference to identify which topics from the past remain of importance to the industry, and how the new subject areas under discussion could show what's in store for the next generation of magazines.

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Argues for the advantages of Zinio, a product for the digital delivery of magazines. Zinio recreates the full hard copy reader experience, with enhancements. Advantages for readers include being able to assemble their own magazine content, even when on the move. New readers would be attracted. Waste and cost of paper would be reduced. Enhancements could offer sight, sound and motion, and rich media links, within the same print format. The print industry should welcome digitisation, not see it as a threat.