(Conde App for Men of the Year issue)
In the world of dying print, Conde Nast is making more smart moves in trying to prevent the falling of Babel. Si Newhouse is a man who rolls with the punches and is getting his “digital game” on tight.
Case in point is the creation of their iPhone app for GQ Magazine. Each download costs $2.99. Up until now, GQ’s Man of the Year application has brought in $20,000 since mid November. Also, the January 2010 issue was downloaded 12,000 times so far… and counting.
(GQ’s February 2010 issue)
That means — to all those other struggling magazines out there– that it’s possible to supplement (or someday replace) full subscription print prices with magazine applications. Of course, the real power revenue comes from advertising, but I’m enjoying these digital experiments and how they add revenue to any fledgling publication.
(GQ’s January 2010 issue)
Conde Nast is hooked on the application game now, and is planning more iPhone content. A single download for each issue will cost $2.99 but they will be offering a “subscription offering” of $1.99 if you are a repeat customer.
Even other Conde titles that died in print, such as Gourmet, have been reincarnated as a digital download with its November 2009 launch of the Gourmet magazine application.
2010 is full of hope and promises for those who act fast in the digital space. I’ll say it once and I’ll say it again… “let the games begin”.
