Sam Oliver
Popular Science +, the digital publication produced for iPad by Mag+, saw its sales leap 13 percent in one week after Newsstand debuted in October. But as noted by Peter Kafka of All Things D, what's even more promising for the publication is the fact that the magazine's growth continued to pick up after that launch week with more velocity.
Cumulative subscription rates for Popular Science + leapt from 28,658 to 32,335 immediately following the launch of Newsstand. In the following weeks, subscriptions continued to grow at a faster rate, and eventually reached more than 40,000 by early October.
The new numbers from Mag+ are the first time concrete numbers have been released to show the effect the launch of Newsstand has had on digital publications. In October, soon after the launch of iOS 5, Conde Nast revealed that Newsstand has boosted subscription sales by 268 percent on the iPad, though longer term trends have not been revealed.
Apple unveiled the Newsstand feature in June as part of the first public preview of iOS 5 at the Worldwide Developers Conference. In addition to a dedicated storefront and folder, it also allows publications to automatically download updated content in the background.
Users can also sign up for recurring subscriptions to publications on the iPhone or iPad, and ongoing charges will be added to their iTunes account and accompanying credit card. Apple takes a 30 percent cut of subscriptions placed through the App Store, which has kept some major publications like The Wall Street Journal from adopting Apple's subscription policies or making their application available in Newsstand.
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21 Comments
I confess I have yet to subscribe to any magazine but this is one I may well. It is gratifying to know science is still followed by many in the USA!
I confess I have yet to subscribe to any magazine but this is one I may well. It is gratifying to know science is still followed by many in the USA!
40,000 subscribers is hardly 'many' when you consider that there are 300,000,000 Americans. (and I believe the 40,000 figure is global).
40,000 subscribers is hardly 'many' when you consider that there are 300,000,000 Americans. (and I believe the 40,000 figure is global).
The better comparison would be to the magazine's print subscriptions, which -- if it has followed the pattern of other print magazines -- has been gradually declining over the last decade.
Also, iOS is a growing platform. Subscription-model digital magazines have a huge opening to grow among the current installed base of iPad users at the same time as the base continues to grow.
I'm looking forward to seeing more titles come online and more titles move from my magazine folder to the Newsstand folder. New Republic and National Review updated to the Newsstand today. Bon Appetite is supposedly coming in January or February.
I only subscribe to a small handful of titles, but I like browsing Newsstand for new covers just like I would at the grocery store. I'll likely subscribe to a few more titles and occasionally pick up single issues of other magazines that look interesting.
Well, iOS is about to hit a brick wall in 2012. Although I agree that 7" form factor is just a bit too small for magazine. It's just that iOS and the iPad are in for a major fall thanks to Kindle, Nook and many others ramping their products at a much cheaper price. For a majority of users the are good enough and the price is unbeatable.
Well, iOS is about to hit a brick wall in 2012. Although I agree that 7" form factor is just a bit too small for magazine. It's just that iOS and the iPad are in for a major fall thanks to Kindle, Nook and many others ramping their products at a much cheaper price. For a majority of users the are good enough and the price is unbeatable.
Dude, you're contrarianism is really really old. You're the Boy Who Cried Wolf, talking shit the whole time and the one time you might have something good to say no one will listen to you because you're always talking bullshit.
As you might imagine, when I see your handle attached to a comment I just glance over it because there is nothing valuable there.