It may be the era of cross-media, but with increasing broadband penetrations, online-only magazines are on the increase. But do they work? Last week, Independent Digital Media flagged its intentions to tap into this growing sector by setting up its own digital-only publishing arm.
By June this year, IDM will inaugurate the division with the launch a beauty portal – the first in a series of six or more lifestyle-focused websites in the coming year. The news comes just weeks after Pacific Magazines folded its online title Red Zero after 18 months in the marketplace. Redzero.com.au was closed after its advertising partner Target abandoned the two-year project six months early, deciding to spend its cash in paper-and-ink magazines. Despite this, most industry executives believe there is still a definite niche in the industry for online-only publishers.
Steve Murray, advertising sales director at launch site Businesspectator.com.au – the brainchild of former BRW journalists Alan Kohler, Stephen Bartholomeusz, Robert Gottliebsen and Crikey’s Eric Beecher – says Business Spectator is delivering above expectations across the board. “We are screaming along, we attracted about 125,000 unique visitors for the month of February. We are only four months old and we are above expectations. We are trying to keep our expectations real, but we do seem to be quite a sticky site.”
The site has already attracted the likes of Qantas, BMW, and Foster’s’ Cascade brand.
Ben Summons, group marketing manager of premium beer at Foster’s, says: “Segmenting media plans is more essential in today’s marketplace, with online you can target sites that are relevant. Of Cascade’s target market, 77% are heavy internet users, and business readers, and therefore harder to reach in other mediums.
“We also used Businessspectator.com.au for Crown Lager over the summer and it-over delivered for us.”
Lee Stephens, chief executive Asia-Pacific at Aegis Media, says success in online publishing should be a long-term goal. “It’s a hard way to make money in the short term. But it can be very successful. The business model has to change over time. Companies should start small, and it’s often best to sell your advertising on a share of voice basis, as opposed to a cost per thousand basis, and as you grow, you then change your business model to a cost per thousand model later, and that is something that most people don’t get right.”
Last month, Glam Media launched its US site Au.glam.com on Aussie shores. Since launching, 700,000 women have visited the site.
Monique Talbot, chief executive at Glam’s sales house Tempest Media, says: “Advertisers are lining up to do a trial with them.” Tempest Media also manage sales for well-known beauty portal Shesaid.com.au.
“I have been running Shesaid.com.au for nine years now, and although traditional advertisers are starting to see online, I still get sick with envy when I flick open a glossy and the first 10 pages are these massive advertisers. It drives me crazy, I have 75,000 women on my Shesaid.com.au database, with 15,000-20,000 women opening the newsletter each week, I mean, where do you get that in offline land?”
Talbot says hard copy magazines have the advantage of glossy images. “They can just bring such beautiful glossy pictures, and with broadband in Australia being as pathetic as it is, the magazines are always going to win for pictures. However, online is going to win for speed and interactivity. Offline mags are pretty much one dimensional, with Shesaid.com.au we can do focus groups, we can send 25 products to customers to ask them what they think and we have the feedback within 48 hours.”
Adam Donnelley, general manager at McCann Worldwide’s digital and direct specialist agency MRM, says Australians love glossy magazines. “In the Red Zero instance, what they really underestimated was Australians love a big fat glossy magazine, it is not to say that straight to your inbox titles won’t work, but it is about getting that format right. It is improbable at this stage that people are going to get this right first time around.
“I think pure online publishing is one of those things that has to be incredibly relevant, and incredibly exclusive. Exclusivity has been one of those key drivers of publishing. It has been about who has the scoop and that holds true in the online space.”
Donnelly adds that research has shown consumers believe the quality of journalism is sub-standard to its traditional counterparts.
Kathryn Hamilton, director of media at Yahoo!7, believes each medium has its strengths, and it is about making the most of those strengths. “Magazines have been proven as a visceral experience particularly in the beauty and fashion categories. I think the value of online is as a resource,” she says.
“Online magazines neglect the value of an established brand. They are starting from scratch really and they have no credibility as a trusted source. I think you have to build brands up, and the easiest thing to do is to translate an existing relationship online, so I think different mediums offer different consumption opportunities, the opportunity when you have an existing magazine is to extend that and offer a complementary offer.”
Helen Kingsmill, outgoing executive director of Magazine Publishers of Australia, agrees consumers do not want to replace paper and ink magazines. “Apart from slow download speeds being a big hindrance here making it a pretty clumsy experience to navigate through a big magazine issue online, there is no indication that consumers here are enormously keen to replace the personal experience of reading a printed magazine with an online download of a complete issue. There are synergies between the two platforms for magazines brands, that is certain, but the online extensions that work best for consumer magazines are not replicating the content and pagination of the printed magazine, they are providing other opportunities for readers to interact with the content and also advertisers’ messages.”
