Noting that retail sales of gossip-oriented titles are in the tank, industry consortium MagNet told its affiliates this week that, “One of the major hurdles affecting weekly celebrity publications is the ability to find new celebrities and subject matter that consumers are interested in discovering.”
“It is actually not relevant whether we choose print or a digital channel—what matters is that there is someone out there who cares, who reads, listens and communicates with us,” said Peter Vesterbacka, CMO at Rovio Entertainment Ltd.
The Denver Broncos are tossing out the tradition of printing 500-page playbooks every week for each of the 120 players, coaches, scouts and other personnel. This season, the team will hand out iPads that feature the week’s game plan, scouting reports, video clips and other relevant data.
Just two other teams in the National Football League have discarded the printed playbook in favor of a tablet and an app...the league doesn’t allow electronic devices such as tablets on the sidelines during games.
But for the first time, players and coaches this season will have access to those devices in the locker room
Last week’s blog on paper price increases prompted a lot of interest. I received a good number of emails and phone calls from printers who thanked me for asking hard questions. But what about the response from paper industry?
With some publishers settling their antitrust lawsuit with the government, prices for e-books are expected to come down. But how much of a change will we really see? The big change will be that retailers will be allowed to discount the price of e-books.
Decreasing demand for publication papers in the U.S. is apparently having a counterintuitive result: higher prices. Or, at the least, higher minimum price levels during down markets. There’s a logical explanation, and it doesn’t involve repealing the law of supply and demand.
With so many paper companies in or on the verge of bankruptcy, significant capital investments in existing machines are rare. The most efficient machines today are likely to remain the most efficient for years to come.
That means the industry’s efficiency gains are too meager to counter the impact of rising input costs.
If, like me, you received price increase letters last week from a couple of coated paper manufacturers, you’re probably really frustrated. Is this price increase demand-driven? Of course not! Then why are they doing it?
With Conde Nast, Hearst and Meredith launching their own digital newsstand in the form of Next Issue Media, it’s clear that magazine publishers are counting on tablets for future growth. But a new report from Kantar Media suggests publishers will need to upgrade ad offerings in tablet editions to fully exploit the new platform.
There are five attributes that the realms of print and media convergence share. Most printers should find the five attributes familiar, if not downright recognizable, and will agree that print and the world of media convergence have a common future.
As the industry’s print-to-digital migration gains steam, newspapers say they’re ready to stop allowing non-subscribers to read their online content for free. They are also saying that print remains important, and…believe their operations’ financial fortunes have stabilized enough to permit them to invest in new technologies over the next 18 months.
