“Hearst Magazines expects to reach one million digital subscriptions by the end of next year as more people sign up to read titles on tablet computers, the company’s president told Reuters on Wednesday,” Jennifer Saba and Lisa Richwine report for Reuters. “‘We do expect in 2012 at some point to be able to have more than a million on e-subscriptions,’ Hearst Magazine President David Carey said. The division now has about 400,000 digital subscribers to Cosmopolitan, Esquire and its other titles.”
“Hearst makes the digital titles of its 19 magazines available on several tablet computers, including Barnes and Noble’s Nook, which commands the largest percentage of its digital subs, Amazon’s Kindle Fire, and Apple’s iPad. The digital magazines are priced at $1.99 for a monthly subscription,” Saba and Richwine report. “Carey said tablet providers take roughly a 35 percent cut of subscription revenue, meaning Hearst gets to keep 65 percent. For traditional print newsstand sales, publishers typically keep 55 cents on the dollar.”
Saba and Richwine report, “Earlier this year, many publishers balked at what they considered Apple’s onerous terms for subscriptions generated through its App Store. Not only do publishers have to share revenue, but they also have to give up ownership of valuable subscriber data used to sell advertising if a consumer goes through the App Store to purchase a magazine subscription. Apple lets consumers opt to share their personal data, and Carey said that 60 percent to 65 percent of iPad subscribers choose to share their personal data with Hearst, which he conceded was a higher amount than expected… ‘It’s a pretty efficient distribution for us to be honest,’ he added.”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: Honesty in the magazine publishing biz? What’s this world coming to?
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