Magazine Publishers Integrating Digital Content

SI Adds To Swimsuit Issue With Additional Digital Content

Magazine publishers are “scrambling to buttress print copy and ad revenue with new digital ways to sell content, to sell ads and to profit from their brand’s identity and audience,” according to Laura Petrecca in a USA TODAY Money section Cover Story examination of digital media. What it “comes down to is surviving in a digital world — winning revenue and younger customers.” Magazine Publishers of America CEO Nina Link said, “We’re in a time of transition.” Petrecca notes SI offered a download of the entire ’05 Swimsuit Issue for free to subscribers and $5.99 for others. For ’06, SI posted photo shoot outtakes and other content free to subscribers before the issue was out. SI, for an undisclosed royalty, has also teamed with The Finish Line to sell products like NFL jerseys and NCAA hats, as well as SI-branded calendars and books, at the SI Shop located at SI.FinishLine.com (USA TODAY, 6/23).

WEB FEET: USA TODAY’s Jon Swartz reports MediaZone — which is providing online access to Wimbledon and 15 other sports, including rugby, European basketball and surfing — has generated more than 500,000 paid subscriptions for sporting events since ’04. Adams Media Research VP Jan Saxton noted that a “growing number of second-tier sports are available online for a fee, reflecting a surge in high-speed Internet services and an insatiable appetite for live content online.” But while MediaZone and WCSN.com, which offers live Olympic-style events, charge viewers, CBS and ESPN opt for ad-supported free programming. CBS Digital Media President Larry Kramer: “Our experience is the advertising model works best. ... The [PPV] model is good for hard-core fans” (USA TODAY, 6/23).