Carola York, Managing Director of Jellyfish Connect mentors students on Association of Circulation Executives training programme

1. Digital Publishing – An Overview
Carola York, Managing Director, Jellyfish Connect
June 2017

2. Devices, Platforms & Distribution
DIGITAL PUBLISHING | 2017
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3. DIGITAL PUBLISHING | 2017
We’re in a multi-device, multi-platform world
• There are a plethora of ways a customer can potentially access content using a digital device.
• There are multiple platforms as well as multiple screen sizes.
• The most common devices and platforms are:
• Mobile – iOS, Android, Windows, Blackberry
• Tablet – iOS, Android, Windows, Kindle
• Desktop – Mac, PC

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And there are many different ways to buy and sell
• Direct from the publisher
• Via the App stores e.g. Apple App Store, Google Play Store, Amazon App Store, Google & Apple
Newsstands
• Via digital newsstands e.g. Pocketmags, Zinio, Magzter
• Via all-you-can read newsstands e.g. Readly, Texture
• Via news readers & apps e.g Apple News

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Dedicated apps for mobiles
• To meet changing reading habits, publishers are increasingly
producing mobile friendly editions.
• Created as an alternative to the traditional 'pinch and zoom' reading
experience when a PDF replica is delivered on a phone, they are
perfect for customers to read ‘on the go’ and they help to boost
customer engagement and retention.
• Most publishers ‘deconstruct’ their existing print products into
sections and individual articles, making each issue accessible in a
'snackable', article-by-article, format – and they generally publish
issues at the same frequency as print i.e. daily, weekly, monthly.
• However some publishers have invested in bespoke built apps with
daily content especially for a mobile readership e.g. Economist
Espresso, The Week Day.

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Take a look at some apps…
1. Go to the app store on your phone
2. Find and download the MagazineCloner Proofing App
3. Then login with:
• Username: mobile@test.com
• Password: mobile

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Dedicated apps for tablets
• Tablet apps are more suited for reading replica editions, but many
publishers also add in lots of bells and whistles to their apps too. The
main types of tablet apps are:
• Custom tablet editions
• Designed especially for tablets, these remove the need to
pinch and zoom and take advantage of multi-media
capabilities to create an immersive and interactive
experience.
• Enhanced PDF replica edition
• Enhancements/multimedia features such as videos, html and
image galleries are added to the print/replica edition.
• PDF replica edition
• The ‘flat’ print/replica edition which can simply be read by
swiping back and forth.

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Digital editions for web
• These are generally hosted on a publisher’s own website
and are designed to be read on any computer, mobile or
tablet device – via a web browser – and they adjust to the
user’s screen size/device.
• B2B publishers generally make more use of this format
than consumer publishers do.
• Replica, custom and article reading modes can all be
made. Here are some examples:
• Multi-issue selector – International Adviser
• Replica with article mode – Newsweek Europe
• Custom edition – National Geographic Traveller

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The Apple App Store
• Once an app has been created and approved by Apple, the publisher
gets their branded app featured in the App Store.
• Publishers can choose what content to give away for free (if any) and
can sell single issues and/or subscriptions of varying terms.
• Customers download the ‘shell’ app to their device and the icon then
sits on their device screen.
• Customer buys through the app – via their iTunes account.
• Apple have set prices/pricing bands – publishers can’t set own specific
prices.
• Apple enable publishers to sell in most major markets and currencies
through the one platform.
• They take 30% commission in the first year of a subscription, then15%
from year two onwards.
• We used to have Apple Newsstand, the ‘shop’ app which included all
newspaper and magazine apps, but this closed in 2015.

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Google Play & Amazon App Stores
Both are similar to the Apple App Store:
• Publishers create a branded app which is featured within the store.
• Publishers choose whether to give away content for free and/or
sell single issues and subscriptions.
• A customer downloads the ‘shell’ app to their device and the icon
sits on their device screen.
• Customers buy through the app – via their Google Wallet account
or via their Amazon account.
• Publishers can choose what price to sell issues for – but most
align with Apple pricing for consistency across digital platforms.
• Apps can be bought/sold in most major markets and local
currencies.
• Both stores take a 30% commission.

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Digital newsstands
• These sell single digital issues and subscriptions for individual titles
through online newsstands.
• A customer can search across the hundreds/thousands of different
newspapers and magazines featured, and the customer buys once to
get access across multiple platforms and devices.
• Publishers can choose what price to sell at – but most align with Apple
pricing for consistency across digital platforms.
• Most digital newsstands take a 30% commission.
• The biggest advantage of selling through these is that they provide
good quality customer data back to the publisher.
• See:
• https://pocketmags.com/
• https://gb.zinio.com/www/#/
• https://www.magzter.com/
• Amazon & Google Play also have newsstands featuring all their
apps too

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News readers & news feed apps
• These allow content from multiple magazines or newspapers
to be available as a feed through the one app and many
publishers allow around10 articles to be given away for free.
• They are good for brand awareness, but don’t yet generate
much in terms of revenue for publishers.
• Main options are:
• Apple News
• Instant Articles
• Google Play Newsstand (and AMP)
• And coming soon
• Blendle: https://launch.blendle.com/
• Micro-payment based

13. Where’s the money?
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% of content revenues from digital
Source: PPA Publishing Futures Report 2015

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Mobile is key for consumer titles, desktop/tablet for
B2B

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Apple still generates the largest proportion of paid
sales
Source: Jellyfish Connect

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Publishers selling direct to consumers is growing

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Publishers selling direct to consumers is growing

19. © Jellyfish CoNNect 2017
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