Time Magazine - $5 PER ISSUE?

[DaveGee]

They will charge the maximum the market is prepared to pay - that's capitalism.

Not exactly... the right way to look at this is they SHOULD charge a price that will bring them the most over all PROFITS.

Sure you might be able to have a cover price of $29.99 and 'some' may pay it... Sell it for $1.99 and (hopefully/potentially) a whole lot MORE will pay it. The 'perfect price' is a hard thing to come up with, it actually takes a far amount of research and testing.

A 'Molecular Biology Monthly' with a $19.99 cover price might sell 10,000 copies however dropping the price to 3.99 may NOT increase sales all that much given the specific audience the magazine caters to. Where a 'Fashion Monthly' with a cover price change from $19.99 to $3.99 will almost assuredly see greater sales (much greater) and even if the 'total sales' turns out to be the same bottom line profit when you compare 19.99*sales vs 3.99*greatersales, it's STILL a bonus since the larger reader base translates into higher AD rates and higher profits. It can even be argued that even if 19.99*sales vs. 3.99*greatersales is LESS of a profit on 'magazine sales' the greater AD revenue more than makes up for it.

Finally that only goes so far... for example a magazine that is given away 'free' doesn't automatically warrant EVEN GREATER AD rates... Since the advertisers wont value the readers as great as they would if the people had to actually pay for the magazine. People paying for it are far more likely to want read it and/or spend more time reading it.

 

[srl7741]

I did not want to create a new thread and found this one to resurrect.

I like the Time Mag App but don't like the idea of how you have to manage it.
For example if u wanted a years worth of magazines at your fingertips you will have 12 icons on the iPad or have to remove them via iTunes and in order to place them back on the iPad resync.

What a mess, we should be able to access all the content from each one at any time without going thru a sync, resync and having to search for the one or two articles we want to re-visit.

Unless I'm missing something here Mag subscriptions in digital format suk. Who wants 50 icons on the iPad one for each months magazine.

 

[andyblila]

It should at least be at the same as the print subscription rate.....not more.

 

[HiRez]

What's sad is that a lot of publishers will say "Oh, see, we can't make any money on the iPad, it's not a viable market", when if they dropped their prices to reasonable levels, they'd probably see a lot more uptake. Just like downloadable movies and (especially) tv shows from the iTunes store and with the Apple TV.

 

[ravenvii]

I did not want to create a new thread and found this one to resurrect.

I like the Time Mag App but don't like the idea of how you have to manage it.
For example if u wanted a years worth of magazines at your fingertips you will have 12 icons on the iPad or have to remove them via iTunes and in order to place them back on the iPad resync.

What a mess, we should be able to access all the content from each one at any time without going thru a sync, resync and having to search for the one or two articles we want to re-visit.

Unless I'm missing something here Mag subscriptions in digital format suk. Who wants 50 icons on the iPad one for each months magazine.

Yeah, but I think the folders in OS 4.0 will mostly solve this.

 

[illutionz]

Yeah, but I think the folders in OS 4.0 will mostly solve this.

1 Times Mag app that can do in-app purchase/subscription is much better no?

 

[Prolif1k]

Yeah, but I think the folders in OS 4.0 will mostly solve this.

That is nice, but it's a crappy solution when they could just make one app with in-app purchases like Marvel Comics. And of course, the pricing is ludicrous but that's another issue.

 

[calebz]

Folks should check out the individual pricing on magazines at the checkout line in the grocery store next time you're there.

Soap mags are outrageous (and more for the Canadian price listed) and become outdated in a week. I just stand there and read AT the checkout. I don't care what people think. I read all that I can very fast and try to absorb as much infor as possible and move on my merry way.

Question: Do these magazines disappear, like a rental, or can you keep them for a while?

 

[/dev/toaster]

LOL good luck with that. Who the hell is going to pay $5 an issue for it. The magazine and newspaper industry needs to adapt to changing times. No one wants to pay that kinda money for yesterdays news.

 

[calebz]

The NY Times issue is just as bad, if not worse.

Real-world iPad annoyances: A timeline

April 4: A hobbled New York Times app
It's Sunday, and the New York Times is sitting on my kitchen table. Apple's ads have me thinking that I can read the whole thing on the iPad instead, and if so I'll happily cancel my paper subscription. But the current "Editor's Choice" NYT app gives me only a limited selection of stories. Cruelly, the iPhone version of the NYT app gives me everything in the paper. I didn't pay all this money only to choose between a tiny version of the Times and an abridged version at iPad size. Give me what you advertised, please, Apple.

http://news.cnet.com/8301-19882_3-20002550-250.html?tag=TOCmoreStories.0

 

[1rottenapple]

Shouldn't the digital copy be a little bit cheaper though since there's no paper printing cost involved?

It's a money grab. Def don't buy. Just ignore them and it'll be free in 3 mons.

 

[Chip NoVaMac]

Having worked in the magazine publishing industry a bit, it's my opinion that publishers are only really interested in subscribers. When they sell you a single issue it is hard to sell "your eyes" to advertisers, but if they sell you a sub they can let advertisers know that *your* will be seeing their ads every issue for a year, or whatever time they are looking to advertise for.

Also, news stand price is almost completely vendor profit. The publisher gets a small chuck of the sale, the store gets most of it. It's essentially just a (fairly cheap) advertisement for their subscriptions.

There's really no justification for their pricing, imo. They should have given away a reader app and sold subs or single issues in it at a SANE price ($20-30 a year, $1 for single issues seems pretty reasonable), gone ad supported, free only, or just not bothered at all.

I wrote back when the iPad first came out and saw the Time magazine on iTunes that I can get the printed version for well under a $1 if I got a six month subscription.

I have no issue with at $1 an issue of having ads.

Aside from the obvious - also consider that to produce content - regularly- for the iPad involved additional staff, programming, etc. It's not like they are simply scanning each page and throwing it into an eDoc. The content, from what I understand is much more interactive, clickable, etc. That doesn't magically happen. It's created. A UI had to be developed. etc etc

So saying that it should be free - or that there's no cost to put out the magazine electronically is a bit shortsighted. Look at the big picture.

Good points... I am not looking for it for free. And dare I say I might be willing to pay a "green tax" to save the printing costs and save shelf space - and to be able to look at back issues with a search function.

A large portion of the newsstand cost of Time is the following.

#1 Paper
#2 Ink
#3 Cost of transportation to store sites.
#4 Cost of unused product ending up getting destroyed.
#5 Cost of printing and stapling.

Yet the digital version has none of the above. What they are doing is being greedy and trying to pocket the spread.

Amen there!

the market will help magazine companies figure out the price. this is a new concept so nothing is set in stone. let your wallet speak for you... it is the best thing you can do to voice your opinion and the company will hear it (good or bad)

Disagree with you somewhat here. Just wonder what lamed brained VP thought $5 an issue with no subscription option that is on pare with their printed editions was the right way to go.

At the right price I might have gotten a subscription for my future iPad 3G purchase. Used to subscribe, but a buddy at work gets it and shares it with me after he is done reading it usually.

I also buy single issues when it is something that I want to keep around. Like the idea that was mentioned above - to have an option to in addition to the digital version to have a printed version mailed to you - for times that you might think you have a "collectable" edition to hand down to your heirs. LOL

They will charge the maximum the market is prepared to pay - that's capitalism.

Nothing to do with how much it costs to produce (although if you charge less than that, your business fails). Just because you think that printing/distribution costs are the main part of the price you pay at the newstand doesn't make it so. And remember, Apple have to be paid...

The market is still in its infancy so lots of different price points are out there

Also good points....

When an issue hits after I get my iPad I may bite just to test the waters with a single issue...

Now Apple **IS** getting a 30% cut so that does offset this savings to some degree but all things being equal digital magazines should be CHEAPER no doubt about it. No printing, shipping, take-backs (stuff that didn't sell - usually just the cover gets sent back), recycling, warehousing, etc have to bring the price down.

ALSO something that everyone seems to be overlooking is the fact that OLDER ISSUES can REMAIN on sale .... FOREVER and POPULAR ISSUES WILL NEVER SELL OUT! These two points can't be stressed enough. Never before have magazines been able to sell old magazines in such a SIMPLE way before. Yes, some magazines did offer 'back issues' but at an added cost and only while inventory existed and this 'service' was performed by someone they had to hire to manage everything. Now the magazine can always be available and be sold 'forever'.

This 'new' feature MIGHT have smart magazines rethinking their digital magazines and perhaps put more effort into a special topic then they otherwise would -- knowing the extra effort will promote the sale of said magazine for LONG after its publication date.

Finally ... anyone who bothers to look it up 'newsstand magazine sales' will see that the number of issues (over all) have be dropping consistently year after year after year, going all the way back to the early 90s.

Thanks for the reminder that Apple is getting their 30%. Does show why magazines can offer the savings for home delivery.

As to older issues, I like the digital concept. Some magazines charge more, some less for for back issues.

As to your last point, yes that is why so many magazines have folded in recent years. I know that my reading of magazines and even books has fallen off due to costs and the growing nature of many of us not knowing what we want to read at any one point. A part of the internet age of being distracted perhaps.

 

[aluren]

I also think that the price could go lower, even with the 30% cut Apple gets. Correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't the majority of a magazine's profits based on ads? If they can improve the ads in these digital magazines, then I think companies will pay more for those ads, which will drive down the cost of each issue for us.

They're making magazine content interactive, and I think they should make ads interactive as well (like what Apple is doing with iAd). Let us click on that iPhone case ad and take us directly to the website via an in-app Safari API, make the purchase, then go back to my reading.

 

[xraydoc]

If it were $1-2 per issue, I'd consider it. It would be nice to have all my magazine subscriptions with me wherever I carry my iPad (which lately seems like it will be everywhere).

But $5 per week? They can stick it.

The iPad could be the device that saves the print industry. Instead, they will likely ignore it or make suck poor decisions about it that nothing will save them.

As usual, those in charge of multi-million (billion?) dollar industries have no foresight. Immediate bottom liners all of them.

 

[jaw04005]

How much is a single issue at a store?

I bought an issue the other day at Wal-Mart for $2.66 with tax or something like that.

Sort of hilarious that Amazon has it for $0.36 per issue with a 12 month subscription ($20 per year for 56 issues).

 

[ChicoWeb]

$5 bucks if fine

$5 bucks - is the price of a Coffee. How do you expect news organizations to stay in business if their content is free on the internet? Who's going to write it? Who's going to hire reporters to actually get the real news? Are you going to start looking to Bloggers? Be careful for what you wish for.

 

[Zepaw]

This was supposed to be the come back of print media. This is such a way to bungle that whole revival. I would love to read magazines on my iPad, but I have better things I can spend $5 on.

 

[GoCubsGo]

$5 bucks - is the price of a Coffee. How do you expect news organizations to stay in business if their content is free on the internet? Who's going to write it? Who's going to hire reporters to actually get the real news? Are you going to start looking to Bloggers? Be careful for what you wish for.

$5.00 is not fine when each issue in hard copy format is not $5.

 

[Arkwater]

5$ for a coffee?? Mr. Hannum must have seen you comming.

 

[ucfgrad93]

I think that $5 an issue is too much. They will realize that when the sales of it don't match their expectations. But as others have said, Time and others are still trying to figure out how to switch profitably to digital media.

 

[kernkraft]

$5 bucks - is the price of a Coffee. How do you expect news organizations to stay in business if their content is free on the internet? Who's going to write it? Who's going to hire reporters to actually get the real news? Are you going to start looking to Bloggers? Be careful for what you wish for.

Where do you buy your coffee?

$5 is ridiculous for a coffee and for a digital copy of any magazine and newspaper. I am an avid reader of The Economist and I pay less than $5 as a subscriber. That is in print, delivered to my house. With access to their online content.

 

[ChicoWeb]

$5.00 is not fine when each issue in hard copy format is not $5.

Maybe you can create the technology to convert their in-house files into digital format.

 

[Jaro65]

You can get a Zinio app for your iPad and thus obtain subscription pricing for many magazines offered in a newstand. Granted, they won't have any flashy animations in them. You'll be getting basically exactly what a printed version of the magazine looks like.

 

[JonboyDC]

You'll be getting basically exactly what a printed version of the magazine looks like.

Which is exactly what I want. I can't wait until April 30 so I can really see what a magazine looks like using Zinio.

 

[FSUSem1noles]

I'm off the "Time" magazine wagon as well, at least until they restructure their pricing, if they ever do..

If they did $5 a MONTH subscription type of thing I'd be more inclined to purchase it, but at $5 a week, I'll pass..