The dilemma and change of paper media in America

More than 10 years before the internet began to spread, we had already heard this prophecy: people will no longer read newspapers to buy magazines, publishers will face closure, bookstores will be neglected ... paper media will gradually become the epitaph of the history of the long stream of culture.

And that really happened. The newsstand gradually became a small grocery store selling water and groceries, and bookstores turned into cafés, while some old paper media struggled to keep their hundred-year-old signboards on the verge of bankruptcy (Bezos bought the Washington Post).

With the rapid rise of the internet, micro-bo, micro-letter, etc. from the popularity of the media, paper media seems to have been difficult to cover the decline, powerless.

Puzzling data

At the end of last month, Crain's New York Business published a "Paper media is not dead after all: magazine published record Rise", said the first quarter of 2014 for the U.S. magazine industry is a "particularly optimistic and promising period." The article mentions that in the first quarter, 35 new magazines were published (much higher than last year's 23) and 10 electronic journals (4 in the same period last year), and the industry said the new magazines were "surprisingly quality"; In addition to the number of new magazines published in the same period last year, the article claims " Mainstream publishers and advertisers have found that in today's fast-growing internet world, paper media are still standing. "This not only shows that advertisers have not reduced their investment in paper media, but that the outlook is still promising."

Interestingly, one months ago, Crain ' s had just disclosed the decline in magazine sales in the second half of 2013 and was pessimistic about the paper media. The article mentions that in the second half of 2013, the newspaper Pavilion (newsstand) magazine sales fell 11.1%, the electronic version of the magazine, although up 37% to 10.8 million, but still only accounted for 3.5% of the total paper media.

In just 1.5 months, has the market changed so much? If, according to the 2013 magazine sales trend, the paper media does go down the road, that is why more and more new magazines to enter the market?

The shift in metrics

In the traditional era of paper media, the retail sales of newsstand newsstand is an important criterion to measure the influence of magazines. The more the newspaper kiosks sell, the bigger the readership is, the more powerful the magazine will be. At the same time, it brings more advertising revenue.

In today's internet era, however, newsstand sales are no longer the only criteria for measuring the impact of magazines, and magazine subscriptions and paper ads are no longer the only source of revenue for publishers. As the internet breaks down the barriers of information exchange, the change of information can be said to be "a new differentiation of seconds". And the magazine-oriented paper media magazines can not be "fast" to win, must be in the content, the carrier on the transformation, restructuring the relationship between the magazine and the reader.

Low-cost subscriptions-maintaining readership

One of the reasons for the drop in sales is that the major magazines are implementing the "six-year subscription special offer" sales strategy on their website. For example, "Vogue", which has always been known as high-end and top luxury goods, has a 6-month subscription fee of only 6 dollars (cheaper than a McDonald's package), while the newsstand sales price is 5.99 U.S. dollars per issue. In this comparison, readers will of course be willing to order on the Internet for half a year, but also door-to-door.

Paper media sell magazines at very low prices, not that they don't value paper publishing to make money, but that it's important for them to maintain their readership. In this case, the paper publication is only the magazine and readers to maintain communication channels. Only by maintaining and expanding its readership can the magazine expand its brand value and use the opportunity to gain the favor of more advertisers.

Paper and electronic bundle subscription--guide the paper readers to the electronic transformation

In recent years, as the flat platform continued to move higher, paper media have also launched an electronic version, and Paper magazine to promote the purchase of a bundle of sales. Also with "Vogue" for example, if you subscribe to Amazon monthly paper version, will be free to give the electronic version. Although the electronic version is only a PDF of the magazine, and the user rating is often not high, but no one will refuse a free extra gift.

For magazines, the electronic version has not been given high expectations. The electronic version is stored in the tablet, making it easy for users to read at any time, which can increase the time and frequency of reading magazines. For example, on a business trip unwilling to carry a magazine to increase the weight, but if the ipad inside the electronic version of the magazine, you might as well turn around to pass the time.

However, the electronic version of the magazine is only "more convenient scanning" only, few paper media to invest a lot of manpower and financial resources to try to turn the electronic version into a more interactive electronic magazine. Because of the paper, the electronic version is only "Paperless magazine", but in the final analysis and Low-cost paper version of the same, is to enhance user stickiness, expand Magazine influence channel.

Magazine website--Transformation of Internet media

It is the trend of the paper media in the internet age to turn the line. The United States several major publishing media group Times, Hearst, Nast in the past two years has been the dozens of of its brand to the line, and will be online as the company's important strategic transformation. Nast is the original company name retained after a century of "publication (publication)" Two words to remove, to show the determination of transformation.

And when the paper media at the same time become an online medium, will make up for the paper media in the information lag, the carrier fixed, not easy to carry, and other aspects of the drawbacks. The Internet has enabled magazine reports to be updated more promptly, and through social media sharing has increased interaction with readers. The change in the relationship between the magazine and the reader will lead to a series of new business opportunities: not just targeted ads, but also advertising-sponsored columns and brands.

The paper media has its natural advantages: a large and stable loyal reader group, and a professional author and editorial team who provide quality content.

The paper media is not only the medium, but the brand

It would be too one-sided to judge the influence of a magazine just by selling it in paper magazines. The world's well-known magazines have their own long-term accumulated in the industry word-of-mouth, and they are not only magazines, but also the mouthpiece of the industry, is a gold-content brand. For the readers of these magazines, both "Vogue" and "wired" represent their attitude to life, and their life is inseparable. If Apple, Google's brands have such high market capitalisation, why should these more closely-living magazine brands not rise again?

Content is the product, while editing is the most valuable resource for paper media.

The magazine sells not "book" This kind of paper, but the contents of it, just as readers buy magazines not to get a print, but to get information in magazines. In this view, as the author and editor of content creators, is the core competitiveness of paper media. Why do we still need authors and editors when information on the Internet is rampant today? Precisely because of this era of information overload, we do not have time to explore the answers to each of the things, so we need professional editors to screen training screening, to provide more reliable content.

When the paper media to the line, but greatly increased the "author" weight. Magazines such as New yorker create columns for each author on the site, readers can check all of the author's articles, and can use social networks such as Facebook and Twitter to focus on the author and interact with him.

It is a general trend for the paper media to transform into online medium. The New York Times is a successful representative of the newspaper industry, and other magazines are exploring their business models. The fate of the paper media is still unknown, but it is certain that they will seek rebirth under the wave of the Internet.

This may be the time when the paper media is out of history, or the time when the paper media is once again glorious.