Digital Magazines

Overview

Digital magazines exist in two types, those which have transitioned from print to digital publication, and those which were “born digital,” or were originally published as digital media. This new form of publishing magazines emerged with the development of reading devices such as smartphones, tablets, and ebook readers, all which encourage a new form of reading and publication distribution. Digital magazines can be read across a wide variety of devices, some requiring that they be read on a specific device or platform service while others can be accessed from a web browser. Some digital magazines require subscription, and others are freely available from the publisher. There are debates among publishers about limits on how often one magazine can be shared among readers and how to count that readership (Thornton, 2018). Readership of digital magazines took off rapidly in 2012, doubling in just one year. However, since then readership has held constant for some magazines and fallen for others. The consumer data website Statista predicted a revenue of $16.43 billion for digital magazines and newspapers in 2024. The annual growth rate is projected to be 1.37 percent and 17.59 billion by 2029.

The consumption of digital magazines is dependent in part on the reader’s digital literacy. For example, digital natives- children who grew up in a digital environment- will have a very different experience with digital magazines than their parents who were raised reading print magazines (Palfrey & Gasser, 2016). These differences range from ease in finding and accessing the magazine to the expectations of magazine stories, hyperlinks, and interactivity. Preferences often affect how often someone is likely to pick up a digital device as opposed to a print magazine. For some generations, traveling and being seen reading a print publication in public served as both a demonstration of literacy and an act of social positioning. A reader could announce a good deal about themselves to others depending on which magazine was carried about or read in public. However, with devices such as smartphones or tablets, it is often impossible to tell what a fellow commuter is reading. This anonymity is welcomed by some readers, but others mourn the loss of spontaneous conversation with strangers sparked by reading materials. Additionally, personal preferences affect the length and depth of the articles read in a digital magazine. The space considerations of traditional print publications were always bound by the expense of publishing on paper. However, digital publications are theoretically spared the need to restrict length. This prompts debates about how long the ideal magazine story is, and about the attention span of modern readers.

Further Insights

Publishers of digital magazines are faced with a variety of difficulties. The first difficulty is that their consumers need to be able to access digital content. Print magazines can be easily purchased from a variety of stores, read, and then either discarded or given away to other readers. The publisher can be sure that the magazine will not change during this process of purchasing, reading, and discarding. There might be superficial damage to the pages, but the text will not change, and the magazine will appear in the same way to first reader as it will to the second. With digital magazines, the publisher cannot take these formatting and sharing features for granted. Depending on the platform used to open the magazine, the content may appear differently from reader to reader. Photographs may be resized; advertisements may not align as neatly on the page or alongside the articles they are meant to accompany. The magazine might find a typo or factual error in the text and quickly fix it on the digital publication. This provides a better written text, but it also means that the magazine published on Monday may be different than the magazine which is read on Tuesday. Sceptics point out that in autocratic countries this ability to alter the text could result in political enemies being deleted from published materials such as digital magazines. Some have drawn parallels to George Orwell’s 1984, in which Winston Smith, the main character, is responsible for finding and deleting information that is threatening to the government’s official version of history. Print magazines can be collected and destroyed or their distribution censored, but the text on the page cannot be changed.

Additionally, print magazines are easy to transport and give away to other readers. This allows a sharing of information, encourages discussions about the magazines that are shared, and at times justifies the cost of printing on paper. Digital magazines are often housed on one digital device, and cannot be sent freely to others. This ensures the publisher is better able to regulate access to the magazine, but may also reduce the number of readers, which matters for advertisers trying to reach the largest number of consumers, regardless of their medium of access. Scholars such as Kovarik (2015) have examined the ways that these changes to publication norms have been dealt with by both large and small publishers. Kovarik has also examined the ways that digital magazines are changing the intellectual history of publication, requiring new archiving and access policies by schools and libraries.

Some magazines have succeeded in this transition from print to digital publication. For example, Wired magazine, which is owned by Conde Nast, announced its digital publication and sold more than 24,000 subscriptions on the first day. These sales were attributed in part to the magazine’s focus on digital topics. The readers of Wired were already interested in digital publishing, and so they were more likely to sign up for a subscription. Many of these subscribers have renewed their subscriptions due to the ways that the magazine worked to provide an uncluttered format, which allowed it to quickly load on many different platforms. However, this format was at times criticized for its limitations, such as not allowing viewers to zoom in on pages or highlight and save portions of the text. This may be why many subscribers maintained a print subscription to accompany their digital copy.

While many digital magazines are mass media publications designed for the general reader, there is a push for technical magazines and specialist magazines to become digitally accessible to the broader public. For example, Martin et al. (2016) have argued that there is a need for architectural journals to become available in the same ways that mass media publications can be accessed. This could be through library subscriptions or through paid-article access. This research team argues that consumers have a need for the technical information provided in trade magazines, but they often do not know where to buy those publications. In the case studied by Marten et al. information about consumers’ homes and offices is in high demand. While these consumers are unlikely to find themselves in a bookstore specializing in technical architectural texts, they may be interested in reading the same magazines and articles if they are offered in a user-friendly environment, especially if an app for reading digital magazines is already installed on their digital device.

Digital magazines have emerged all over the world, in many different formats and with different publication strategies. While they are accessible to readers located in many different regions, some magazines have chosen to continue to focus on their specific intended audiences. For example, the Moscow lifestyle magazines studied by Ratilainen (2018) are available around the world, but continue to write for their specific, Moscow-based audience. Ratilainen argues that these magazines have continued the work of print magazines of connecting urban residents with cultural leaders, events, and discussions. In this way, they function as decision-making tools that provide information, resources, and debates for their audience.

Digital magazines have additional benefits for international readers. Because they are printed and distributed digitally, digital magazines can afford to have smaller readerships than traditional print magazines, because they have fewer costs of printing and postage. Additionally, digital magazines can arrive instantly at their subscriber’s device, rather than spending several weeks in an international mailbag waiting for sorting and transport. An additional bonus for readers is that digital magazines are much harder to censor than print magazines. While some countries do monitor downloads, it is still easier for readers to download a foreign magazine than to have to find a shop in which to buy the same text. This is particularly important in authoritarian countries where all foreign publications are seen as suspicious and are sometimes illegal.

Issues

Publishers, as well as librarians and booksellers, are very invested in the ways that access to digital magazines are changing consumer’s reading behaviors. In a study of university student electronic reading habits, Wang, Chiu, Ho and Lo (2016) found that reading habits changed with the adoption and growth of digital reading devices. For university students in Hong Kong, these changes included an increase in the number of magazine articles read each month, predominantly on digital tablets. Librarians need this type of information so that they can anticipate their patron’s needs and subscribe to a larger, more diverse selection of magazines. Librarians familiar with digital library technologies can also make recommendations to teachers who may wish to use digital magazines in the classroom or as take-home assignments. Luna-Nevarez and McGovern (2018) conducted a study which found that students enjoyed the introduction of digital magazines into their classrooms. In this study, students used an app produced by Flipboard to access all of their magazine content. By requiring that all students use the same app, the instructor is able to reasonably predict what information the students have access to, and use this knowledge to prepare for class discussions and future lessons. This type of classroom inclusion is new and exciting to teachers, who previously had to make black and white photocopies of magazine articles. By assigning the digital version of the magazine text, teachers can give their students the more stimulating experience of reading a full-color illustrated magazine article, often enhanced with hyperlinks to further information.

The emergence of digital magazines has radically changed both publication models and reading habits. To accommodate for these new habits, scholars are continuously studying contemporary rates and patterns of literacy. This information is helpful for journalists who want to reach their audiences and editors who need to be aware of their audience’s general trends in both reading and consumption. Publishers can also use information regarding readerships like this to gain more advertisers or charge higher rates for their advertisements, as they can prove that their magazine is being read by more individuals. Some platforms also allow for the tracking of the reader’s behavior, such as determining how long a reader spends on each page, if any links are clicked while on that page, and if the reader purchases anything that was advertised in the magazine. This process of big data collection can help magazines to better tailor their materials for their readership, but may also worry consumers who do not want this type of behavior to be tracked.

Bibliography

Digital Newspapers & Magazines (2024). Statista, www.statista.com/outlook/amo/media/newspapers-magazines/digital-newspapers-magazines/worldwide.

Kovarik, B. (2015). Revolutions in Communication: Media History from Gutenberg to the Digital Age. New York: Bloomsbury Publishing USA.

Luna-Nevarez, C., & McGovern, E. (2018). On the use of mobile apps in education: The impact of digital magazines on student learning. Journal of Educational Technology Systems, 47(1), 17–31. Retrieved December 23, 2018 from EBSCO Online Database Academic Source Ultimate. http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=eue&AN=131122925&site=ehost-live

Coronado Martín, J. Á., Fontenla Pedreira, J., & Flores Medina, D. (2017). Architecture communication in online magazines. In F. Freire, X. Rúas Araújo, V. Martínez Fernández, & X. García (Eds.), Media and Metamedia Management: Advances in Intelligent Systems and Computing, vol. 503. Cham, Switzerland: Springer.

McNally, C. (2023, 21 Mar.) Should you ditch print? The benefits of digital magazines (+3 examples). GatherContent, gathercontent.com/blog/should-you-ditch-print-the-benefits-of-digital-magazines-3-examples

Nylén, D., Holmström, J., & Lyytinen, K. (2014). Oscillating between four orders of design: The case of digital magazines. Design Issues, 30(3), 53–68. Retrieved January 1, 2019 from EBSCO Online Database Business Source Ultimate. http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=bsu&AN=97023853&site=ehost-live

Palfrey, J., & Gasser, U. (2016). Born digital: How children grow up in a digital age. New York: Basic Books.

Ratilainen, S. (2018). Digital media and cultural institutions in Russia: Online magazines as aggregates of cultural services. Cultural Studies, 32(5), 800–824. Retrieved December 23, 2018 from EBSCO Online Database Academic Source Ultimate. http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=asn&AN=130125515&site=ehost-live

Thornton, A. (2018). Acceptable use: Share with care! C2C Digital Magazine, 1(9), 13.

Wang, P., Chiu, D. K., Ho, K. K., & Lo, P. (2016). Why read it on your mobile device? Change in reading habit of electronic magazines for university students. The Journal of Academic Librarianship, 42(6), 664–669. Retrieved January 1, 2019 from EBSCO Online Database Education Source. http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=eue&AN=119652426&site=ehost-live