• by Erik Sass , May 5, 2011

Publishers Rush to Sell iPad Subs

Over the last year, magazine publishers have highlighted tablet-style devices like Apple's iPad as a new platform for magazines, where growth could offset declines in print revenues. But they were frustrated by the lack of an efficient subscription sales model, partly due to Apple's intransigence.

Now that Apple has agreed to new, more favorable terms for selling digital magazine subs on the iPad, publishers are hurrying to market them, both as stand-alone products and as adjuncts to print subscriptions.

In the latest development, Ad Age reports that Conde Nast is speeding up its schedule for introducing digital subs via Apple's app store, apparently in the hopes of beating rival Hearst Corp. to the digital punch. While some Conde Nast employees downplayed the significance of the race, pointing to sub sales in the long haul as a better indicator of success, there's no question that (in the minds of some media executives) there is a certain advantage in being "first."

With that in mind, Conde Nast may be moving up iPad sub sales for big titles like The New Yorker, Vogue and Bon Appetit to hit before Hearst, which is scheduled to debut its first subs for the July editions of Esquire, Popular Mechanics and O, The Oprah Magazine in June.

Apps for all three Hearst titles will become available at a price of $1.99 per month, or $19.99 per year. The subscription sales model allows users to buy subscriptions within the apps with automatic billing. That means casual visitors browsing the apps can convert to paying subscribers with relative ease.

Apple also struck a deal with Time Inc. that allows the publisher to deliver free digital editions to iPad owners who already subscribe to print magazines. The deal will make digital editions of Time, Fortune and Sports Illustrated available. Earlier, Apple and Time struck a similar deal for People. Previously, Apple had refused to allow publishers to make free digital editions available to print subscribers.

In February, Apple unveiled a digital subscription model that allows users to buy subs for magazines and other kinds of content through Apple's App Store. The tech company relaxed its previous prohibition on disclosing consumer information to publishing partners by agreeing to share the name, email address and ZIP code of those who subscribe to digital content -- provided the customers consent. It also relinquished some control by allowing publishers to sell digital subscriptions via their own Web sites. Publishers get to keep all the revenue from subs sold outside the Apple app store.

Forbes Partners With Flipboard

While some magazine publishers have been less than pleased to see their content (but not their ads) scraped by Flipboard for its innovative, iPad-friendly content aggregator, that could soon change as both sides see value in cooperating, according to MIN Online. One of the first magazines to actively cooperate with Flipboard is Forbes, which negotiated special placement for its social feed in Flipboard's gallery of featured content. The Flipboard-Forbes deal also features advertising from Forbes including full-page ads.

Fine Cooking To Unveil TV Series

Fine Cooking is collaborating with WGBH Educational foundation to create, develop, market and sell a new TV series based on Taunton Press' best-selling "Harvest to Heat" cookbook, along with a related Web site. The first season of the show will include 13 episodes, each a half-hour, focusing on specialty food producers, renowned American chefs and their recipes. The series is set to debut in January 2012. Fine Cooking is offering exclusive underwriting sponsorships that include commercial exposure within the opening and closing blocks of the show, with openings for a limited number of advertisers to serve as co-sponsors.

Rodale Debuts "Enhanced" E-Books on iPad

Health and fitness publisher Rodale is rolling out a new series of "enhanced" e-books with special features for the iPad, including video and interactive multimedia, beginning with Al Gore's Our Choice: A Plan to Solve the Climate Crisis. The publisher plans to introduce similar iPad e-books for franchises built on its popular magazine brands, including an enhanced version of Eat This, Not That! No-Diet Diet, by Men's Health editor David Zinczenko, as well as The Six-Pack Secret by the editors of Men's Health, and additional titles from Prevention and Organic Gardening.

Bicycling Gets Redesign

Rodale's Bicycling is undergoing a comprehensive brand redesign that the publisher says will produce a more visual, sophisticated magazine, with new photography, editorial and design elements to better capture the experience of cycling and reflect cycling's current culture. Among other changes, the new approach will feature larger photography and longer features to better leverage the print medium.