As the digital edition industry near 10 years of age, Nxtbook Media recently wrapped a survey called "Digital Editions: The State of the Industry," which polled 233 publishers on their overall satisfaction with digital editions as audience tools and revenue generators, and how mobile apps and tablets will influence their strategy going forward.
Interestingly, Nxtbook concluded from the results that there is great latent potential in digital magazines from the perspective of the publisher. In terms of priorities, Nxtbook believes, publishers are more focused on increasing circulation for digital magazines and selling advertising more effectively into the format, than they are on apps and mobile solutions.
When it comes to the circulation of their digital magazines, about 40 percent reported modest to great satisfaction. On the other hand, 38 percent were somewhat dissatisfied while 22 percent were quite dissatisfied.
However, b-to-b publishers seem more pleased with digital magazines at this point than their consumer counterparts, with 50 percent saying they are somewhat to greatly pleased with their digital circulation.
Still, the majority of respondents believe digital magazines remain an untapped circulation resource but aren't sure how to capitalize on it, with 59 percent agreeing that, "I'm confident there are many more digital magazine readers out there but I don't know how to reach them" while just 3.3 percent said, "I believe that our digital magazine audience has very little room to grow."
