1. TECHNOLOGY REVIEW
C A S E S T U D Y
Technology Review
finds incremental profits in digital
magazine sales
C H A L L E N G E
To increase the circulation
and profitability of a con- BUSINESS CHALLENGE Undoubtedly, Technology Review has withstood the
sumer magazine amid Technology Review searches for test of time. But like many publishers, it still faces
increasing competition circulation growth and profitability challenges—building profits through greater circulation
Talk about longevity. Technology Review magazine and addressing the evolving interests of its audience.
was founded over a hundred years ago—in 1899
S O L U T I O N
by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)— Magazines move from lap to laptop
To deliver the digital version as a clearinghouse to disseminate information about In late 2001, with their audience in mind, Martha
of its magazine, Technology technology. MIT evolved Technology Review into a Connors, vice president and general manager at
Review chose the Zinio™ consumer magazine in the 1980s, but circulation Technology Review, Inc., and her team began to
service consisting of Zinio
never exceeded 100,000. Although it had a dedi- explore the possibilities of distributing the magazine
Reader™ software on the
cated core of readers, the magazine was losing in digital format. Initially, this was driven by their
subscriber’s computer, com-
money and was too small to be sustainable in the curiosity about the potential for digital delivery.
prehensive circulation and
fulfillment programs, produc- consumer space. To increase its impact on society “We thought it was cool,” she says.
tion services and a digital and turn a profit, the Technology Review staff
magazine distribution system needed to find new ways to boost circulation. But then it became apparent that a digital magazine
could become an additional channel of distribution
In 1998, the magazine was relaunched with a new for Technology Review, adding to circulation and
B E N E F I T
editorial mission—to promote the understanding of profitability. Connors saw the new format not as a
Sales from the additional emerging technologies and their impact on business replacement for the print version, but rather as a
digital distribution channel and society. Technology Review was spun out of way to attract new readers. Because content could
add to profits with minimal MIT and repositioned from serving scientists to be reused from the print version, the digital format
additional investment and
helping a broader audience of people better under- would require very little incremental investment.
provide an enhanced user
stand technologies that are about to be commercial- Plus, a digital magazine format seemed to fit per-
experience through immedi-
ized—now, many of the readers are business and fectly with the interests of tech-savvy Technology
ate delivery and interactive
capabilities available only technology executives. Review readers.
with the digital magazine
The relaunch was a great success. Technology But there were questions. Would a digital version
Review has grown to a circulation of 315,000 and is of the magazine cannibalize the print version?
profitable. Although still owned by MIT, the magazine Would people actually read a digital magazine?
operates as an independent company and maintains Would the large file size deter readers from down-
a feature-rich Web site that supports the same edito- loading it? And most importantly, would readers
rial vision as the print counterpart. find enough value to renew their subscriptions year
after year—the key to profitability?

2. BUSINESS SOLUTION computer. “Avid magazine readers value the brows-
Zinio helps Technology Review readers ing experience, not the ‘hunt and peck’ searching of
see clearly—digitally the Web,” Connors says. “Zinio brings the proven
Many of the digital magazine distributors that magazine reading experience to digital delivery with
Technology Review initially evaluated lacked the elegant added benefits and conveniences.”
user experience that was needed for an audience that
was already discriminating about technology. Moreover, For subscribers, the Zinio Reader, shown in Figure 1,
ads did not appear as high-quality images—a signifi- unlocks a unique reading experience that extends
cant obstacle for a magazine. the print metaphor with features available only from
a computer:
Then Connors and her team
discovered Zinio—a leading • Automatic magazine delivery to a desktop, laptop
digital magazine provider, or tablet PC at the same time that the magazine
today having distributed over hits the newsstand (especially important for
7.5 million magazines to foreign subscribers)
more than 650,000 readers. • Access to magazines anytime and anywhere
Zinio now delivers over (online or offline)
70 titles to more than 200 • Ability to view rich-media content, such as animated
countries. Impressed with GIF files, Flash* animations, sound and video, for
the appearance and function- an enhanced reading experience
ality of the Zinio magazines, • Access to archives of the magazine’s past issues
Technology Review began to • Ability to highlight sections of text or insert notes
work with Zinio in mid-2002 • Ability to send a free magazine copy to a friend
to distribute the digital or colleague via a “Send to Friend” feature
Figure 1. The digital version of Technology Review is read version of the magazine. • Keyword search capability
using the Zinio Reader
• Links to Web content referenced in articles and
For Connors, choosing Zinio was easy. “I was very advertisements
impressed with the image clarity and overall user
experience that Zinio provides. Our test with sub- The rich-media content enabled by the Zinio Reader
scribers went very well,” Connors says. “From the offers key benefits to publishers, readers and adver-
easy downloading to the searching capability to the tisers. For example, with just one click of the mouse,
quality of the display of advertisements, Zinio has a static photograph of a research instrument instantly
enabled us to offer a reading experience that is becomes a video demonstration of the tool. This
superior to print media.” greatly enhances the publisher’s ability to convey
complex thoughts. It also provides a more engaging
Zinio enhances the reading experience reader experience, adding value to the digital mag-
Publishers have long used the Internet to display azine subscription. In addition, advertisers can use
content. However, the digital magazine represents a rich media to engage more readers. Zinio compresses
significant departure from simply posting content to magazines so that readers can download issues
the Web. First, subscribers automatically receive easily, even those that offer a wealth of rich-media
their digital magazine at their desktop, so they do features. By leveraging these capabilities to see
not have to go to a Web site to get it. This obviously more ads and sign up more readers, magazine pub-
results in a delivery metaphor similar to print publi- lishers can add revenue.
cations. Also, the Web user interface is different
than print. For example, a Web user typically scrolls The Zinio Reader is well suited to the needs of
down or clicks “next” to get to the next page, while mobile and wireless users. The client software auto-
users of digital magazines flip from one page to the matically downloads magazines from the Zinio server
next—again, similar to using a print magazine. to the user’s desktop so that users can read maga-
zines whether they are connected to a network or
According to Connors, Zinio magazines bring the not. If the user becomes disconnected for any rea-
reading styles of print magazine readers to the son, and then reconnects later, the partial download
TECHNOLOGY REVIEW CASE STUDY

3. will continue from where it left off. Designed to run of hardware, including high-performance PCs based
on a variety of clients and preinstalled on various on the Intel® Pentium® 4 Processor with HT Technology
tablet PCs, the Zinio Reader gives travelers access and notebook computers based on Intel® Centrino™
to their favorite publications, at any time and at any mobile technology. The Intel Pentium 4 Processor
location in the world. with HT Technology gives readers the power to better We are constantly
run multiple applications at the same time. For
Zinio helps publishers spend less to gain example, you can browse a digital magazine while seeking cost-effective
more new subscribers downloading photos from a friend’s Web site and
Digital publishing with Zinio is a simple extension of listening to your customized music playlist—all at ways to increase our
what publishers are already doing. The publisher once. The integrated wireless LAN capability of note-
simply provides Zinio with the same files—such as books based on Intel Centrino mobile technology readership. Zinio has
PDF or QuarkXPress* files—that would normally be enables Zinio to automatically suspend and resume
sent to a printer. “Magazine publishers do not have downloads based on the status of network connec- enabled us to attract
to reinvent their workflows to take advantage of Zinio tivity. Internally, Zinio developers use Intel tools,
services and benefit from digital delivery,” says Pam such as the Intel® VTune™ analyzer, to optimize the
a new type of reader
Horan, vice president of marketing at Zinio Systems. performance of the Zinio Reader on Intel processors.
with minimal effort
Zinio also provides comprehensive sales, circulation Intel servers power the service
and distribution programs for publishers. Zinio handles To meet the needs of both publishers and sub-
everything from sourcing the customer to handling the scribers, Zinio relies on more than twenty Intel®
and investment.
transaction and fulfillment. “Completely turnkey maga- processor-based Dell PowerEdge* servers, which
– Martha Connors
zine distribution can help publishers acquire and serve use either the Intel® Xeon™ processor MP or the Intel
VP and General Manager
new customers at a lower cost,” Horan says. In addi- Pentium 4 processor. According to Graham Golder,
Technology Review, Inc.
tion, Zinio ensures that the publisher’s content is secure vice president of engineering at Zinio Systems, Zinio
by binding digital rights management into each issue. chose Intel® architecture-based servers because
they offered the best combination of performance
Publishers use Zinio to spark advertising interest and price. “The Intel architecture-based servers play
In a tough advertising climate, Zinio has enabled a key role in the performance and capabilities of all
Technology Review to give its advertisers something the services that Zinio provides to its publishers
to cheer about. Connors says, “Advertisers have been
blown away by the fact that you can embed sound,
animation and other forms of rich media into digital
LESSONS LEARNED
advertisements.” Although advertising agencies are
just beginning to recognize the potential of digital • Because it is human nature to devalue “intangible” products (digital mag-
advertisements, Connors sees interest growing. azines included), show your readers the value-added features of digital publi-
“A leading automobile company, which recently used cations. Technology Review positions the digital format as the same content
Flash animation in an advertisement, is eager to use at the same price, but with a number of added benefits.
more rich media in the future to gain a leading posi-
tion in this emerging area of advertising,” she says. • Target your readers carefully. Digital magazines appeal to those who travel,
have broadband Internet connections, prefer to receive information and news
An Intel processor-based distribution online and are open to trying new technology.
system helps Zinio deliver
• Although most readers of digital magazines will have high-speed Internet
The Zinio service utilizes Intel® processor-based
access, try not to let file size exceed 15 MB per issue.
servers for the production, publishing fulfillment
distribution and delivery of all of its digital magazines.
• When catering to the technology-savvy, never underestimate the power of “cool.”
Innovative products on the forefront of technology (such as a Zinio-based
Zinio Reader offers a high-performance reading magazine) are exciting to this audience.
experience
To promote an exceptional reading experience for all • Digital magazine readers value applications that leverage the latest technologies.
users, Zinio is working closely with Intel to ensure Mention that Zinio uses servers and client software optimized for the latest Intel
that its client software runs optimally on a wide range processors to provide a high-performance digital reading experience.

4. TECHNOLOGY REVIEW CASE STUDY
Intel Technology
Intel® Pentium® Xeon™ Processor
Intel® Pentium® 4 Processor with HT Technology publishers, Zinio servers provide support for circula-
Intel® VTune™ Performance Analyzer tion, production, fulfillment and tracking services.
Technology Review attracts new
readership with Zinio
Technology Review uses the digital version of the
magazine to increase circulation and advertising
and readers, from e-commerce functionality to fast interest with minimal incremental investment.
downloads,” Golder says. “After performing bench- According to Connors, the digital magazine costs the
mark testing, we knew that Intel architecture-based company about one-third that of the print version.
servers offered the performance we were seeking “After one year on the market, Zinio has attained
at the lowest price.” a circulation of 30,000 for the digital version,”
Connors says. “Half of that is coming from subscrip-
As the volume increases, Zinio can simply add servers tion agents, while the rest is coming from e-mail
to address the growing demand. Says Golder, “We campaigns and the Web site.”
also have the ability to repurpose our servers quickly
according to need, which helps us respond efficiently International customers respond favorably to the digi-
to any new customer or business demands.” tal version, citing lower cost and immediate delivery
as key benefits (international subscriptions are the
As shown in Figure 2, the Zinio server infrastructure same price as domestic subscriptions). “Readers are
provides redundant services that benefit Zinio and its impressed with the fast delivery of the magazine, the
readers/end users and publishers. For readers, the ability to access magazines while traveling, the archive
Zinio servers manage the e-commerce functionality for and search features and more,” says Connors.
the purchase and distribution of digital magazines. For
Going forward, Technology
Review plans to continue to
CRM (customer
measure results of its new
Agent sales
relationship
(e-commerce)
management) digital format, especially
renewal rates. More rich media
in editorial and advertisements
can be expected. “Because
Production Magazine Zinio
Internet
services distribution Reader greater circulation is our goal,
we are constantly seeking cost-
effective ways to increase our
Publishers’ readership,” Connors says.
fulfillment and Audit and
circulation reporting “Zinio has enabled us to attract
services
a new type of reader with
minimal effort and investment.”
Figure 2. An Intel processor-based server infrastructure manages essential
services for Zinio and its publishers and readers
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