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Huffington Post on the iPad

Posted on Wednesday, May 29, 2013 at 10:27 AM

In the news: A May 28, 2013, AdWeek.com headline reads: "Huffington Post admits defeat with iPad-only publishing." What does this mean for other iPad-only magazines?

After one year in the iTunes store, Huffington magazine has announced plans to move beyond its current iPad-only model. The magazine was first introduced as a paid app but quickly transitioned to a free, advertiser-supported one. However, it has failed to attract enough advertisers to remain viable on the iPad alone.

The magazine will break out of the iPad box later this summer but will still be available as an iTunes app. Despite the advertising challenges, the digital magazine has shown some strong numbers, including "a 50 percent bump in active users since the end of 2012, with the magazine's readers averaging more than 40 minutes per month with the product," reports David Taintor of AdWeek.com.

Read more here and here.

Also Notable

Ad Pages in the First Half of 2013

The ad page numbers are in for the first half of the year. Among the strong performers were fashion, men's, and food magazines. Read Women's Wear Daily's breakdown of the numbers here.

Zinio Adopts the Netflix Model

Zinio is no newcomer to digital magazines. The company was founded twelve years ago and is widely considered to be the first digital magazine company. Today, Zinio offers 5,500 magazines to over 12 million users. To keep pace with changing user preferences, the company is now offering a "Z-Pass" to users. The pass, which costs $5 per month, gives subscribers monthly access to three magazines of their choice. Additional magazines will cost $1.50 on the Netflix-like plan. Read more here.

Is "Magging" the Future?

In a recent TabTimes.com (Tablets for Business) article, Ben Bajarin, director of consumer technology practice at Creative Strategies, discusses some of the latest developments in iPad publishing. "The barrier to entry to publish a new breed of digital magazine is at an all time low," he reports. He discusses the evolution of blogging and suggests that "magging" (i.e., publishing "highly curated -- and highly edited -- platforms for quality long form content") might be the next wave. Read his commentary here.

What's Happening in Digital Publishing

Earlier this month, magazine executives gathered at the I Want Media digital publishing panel in New York. Panelists discussed a wide range of topics, including Yahoo's recent purchase of Tumblr, the value of video content, and social media. Read more about the panel discussion here.

The Hearst/Dr. Oz Magazine Launch

If all goes according to plan, Hearst will soon team up with health guru Dr. Oz to produce a magazine. The self-help title would hit the stands with a January/February 2014 issue. According to NYPost.com, "One source said that the company is predicting a rate base of 800,000, with 350,000 from newsstand sales and the rest to selected subscribers." If these numbers hold true, the magazine launch would be one of the biggest in industry history. Read more here.

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