GQ magazine iPad sales start slow, but publisher has high hopes [u]
Update: Publisher Conde Nast contacted AppleInsider Tuesday to point to a story from Peter Kafka at MediaMemo, in which it was revealed that GQ saw a spike in application sales when the iPad and iPad 3G were launched. However, the publisher did not give specific numbers, because they don't have an iPad-specific app. The application has sold 57,000 total copies since it debuted in December.
Pete Hunsinger, vice president and publisher of GQ, told Min Online that the December 2009 "Men of the Year" issue of the magazine earned $1,091.35 in total sales. But the publisher said the iPad edition costs his magazine nothing, and he believes that the sales will become more significant in the future.
"This costs us nothing extra, no printing or postage," he said. "Everything is profit, and I look forward to the time when iPad issue sales become a major component to our circulation."
In fact, Hunsinger expects sales to pick up quickly, starting with the upcoming June issue featuring model Miranda Kerr on the cover. He added that the iPad brings "added value to advertisers."
The GQ application on the App Store costs $2.99, and includes the current issue in the iPhone- and iPad-compatible software. Additional in-app purchases of other issues are available for $1.99 each. Those prices are lower than the $4.99 newsstand price.
Even before it was formally announced, publishers showed great interest in the iPad. Some in the print world have viewed the new device as a possible new revenue opportunity as the print business continues to struggle with declining readership and increasing cost of print.
At its official unveiling of iPhone OS 4 in April, Apple CEO Steve Jobs specifically mentioned Popular Science as "king of the hill" when it comes to iPad editions of magazines. Jobs described that application as a "breakthrough" in digital publishing.
The introduction of the iPad even prompted magazines to change the way they count their circulation numbers. In March, the Audit Bureau of Circulations altered its definition of a digital magazine to include the emerging class of tablet-style devices, including the iPad.
81 Comments
The problem is that most of the audience already reads the magazine -- either through subscription or newsstand sales. They have not created enough new content to drive readers onto the iPad, and the pricing doesn't make sense if you subscribe already. Also for fashion and lifestyle magazines (as opposed to news magazines), the experience of the large images page-in-hand cannot be replaced by the iPad. They need to create a new experience which leverages the unique aspects of the technology.
"This costs us nothing extra, no printing or postage," he said. "Everything is profit, and I look forward to the time when iPad issue sales become a major component to our circulation."
Just before the iPad we had a discussion about how these publications should be priced and some said producing the App version would cost a certain percentage compared to print. Now we know how the cost price structure works, at least for GQ. The programmer probably did it for free publicity.
The problem is that most of the audience already reads the magazine -- either through subscription or newsstand sales. They have not created enough new content to drive readers onto the iPad, and the pricing doesn't make sense if you subscribe already. Also for fashion and lifestyle magazines (as opposed to news magazines), the experience of the large images page-in-hand cannot be replaced by the iPad. They need to create a new experience which leverages the unique aspects of the technology.
Agreed. Also the price is steep considering the market it sits in.
Does anyone know if the app includes *all* the content of the magazine? GQ is usually over a centimetre thick when I see it in the store. I'm thinking this app pretty much has to be a small subset of the real magazine. It's priced the same as a game that you might play over and over for years, but all you get is some text and pictures and then have to buy it all over again next month? And the month after that too?
It just doesn't seem like a good deal to me, but then I don't read GQ (or any magazines) anyway.
I don't know about anyone else but I have been hit by a bunch of adverts trying to get me to subscribe to GQ and other Conde Nast publications. They have a great opportunity (to really add to the content) with WIRED but I have not heard anything about it.
Sorry, but currently these guys don't know what they are doing. Selling single issues?
Get a model going guys!
One app, subscriptions.
Don't make me download more apps for each week! (TIME I'm looking at you)