Thursday, May 30, 2013

Magazines Digital and Print, Latest News

Two reports worth thinking about, if you're at all interested in media in digital and print forms.

First, there's news in Folio: of a survey of users of tablet computers that finds that about 25 percent of them prefer to read magazines in digital format on their tablets rather than in print form. This is being reported as a large number for digital, but frankly my response is: Isn't a quarter kind of a low amount? We're not talking about the public at large, just tablet computer users. And at this late date, when more than a third of American book-buying is for e-books, only a quarter of tablet owners would prefer a mag on their tablet? I seriously would have expected that number to be well over 50 percent. Huh.

In other news (also from Folio:), there's a report on print magazine readerships largely being either flat or up.

Now, as I've noted here on this blog (and here) before, I'm a fan, producer, and user of both digital and print. Love 'em both. But I always love counter-intuitive data like these two reports, especially when it can be used to argue against the people who swallow the hype kool-aid without contemplation.

No comments: