Publishing Expo 2011

Posted on March 15, 2011 in Uncategorized

Publishing Expo was a great chance to view debates on the future of publishing, as publishers explore opportunities in multichannel content and what exactly it means to be a publisher in a swiftly changing landscape.

One of the most fascinating debates, labelled ‘the VIP Conversation Slot’, argued the big questions: ‘Mobile Browsing vs mobile apps?’, ‘Tablets vs Smartphones vs Internet?’, ‘How quickly will print circulations decline?’ and ‘What will magazines and newspapers look like in 2016?’

BBC Media Correspondent Torin Douglas chaired a panel of digital heavyweights, including Neil Thackray, CEO of The Media Briefing, Dominic Jacquesson, Digital Publishing Consultant of Ink on Dead Trees, and Jeremy Leslie of Magculture.com

Dominic began by presenting some fascinating facts and figures to us, and alerting us to the ‘elephants in the room: Apple, Google and Facebook’. He believes that most readers will own a Smartphone by 2012 and a tablet by 2015. It’s not just a national phenomenon, it’s an international one. 17 million iPads were sold last year, and all major analysts were behind on their projections for Apple. Dominic suggested that this gross under-estimation is because human beings want to predict linear growth but often growth is exponential. He believes that Smartphones offer an augmented reality mindset, as if they are the 21st century of flints and axes, and will become more and more part of our bodies in the future.

For Dominic, mobile apps are here to stay. Interestingly, suggestions are that Facebook will be a predominately app-based service by 2012. At the moment, nearly ¼ of Facebook users have this as an app. If the average Facebook user spends 45 minutes on Facebook, so app users are on it for up to 1 ½ hours. As a digital publisher, you need to be on these platforms to compete.

Is it all doom and gloom for the print industry then? Dominic thinks that circulations of print publications, and time spent reading, will halve in 5 years. His presentation ended with this nugget of advice to the publishers: ‘This is your music industry moment…carpe diem or die.’

Neil Thackray took to the floor now, to suggest that there are 3 strategies publishers can take: stick their heads in the sand; do something stupid; or do something sensible.

It’s easy to be seduced by the beauty and wonder of the iPad, but it’s not a good idea to quickly spit out a magazine app just to get something onto the iPad. The customer needs to be provided with a suite of apps. It’s a two-way device: the app needs to get people to do something, not just regurgitate or replicate exactly the same content.

Jeremy Leslie pointed out that it’s essential to keep asking questions. What, exactly, as a publisher, are you trying to get across to the customer? He also emphasised that these figures for Facebook may be true, but teenage use is often distracted and done whilst multi-tasking with numerous browsers open, watching TV, and more focused on the Facebook chat function than constant status updates.

What’s a good example of a successful app? For Dominic, the best apps are a continuation of the digital strategy across multi-platforms. One example is the FT which uses integrated POVs, and a good consumer example is Autotrade, the location based service. Magazines need to develop a digital strategy, researching what’s available out there.

Neil suggested that this new form of content provides lots of room for journalists. These are journalists who can understand how to do multi-media, using audio, images, videos, and need to be creative in order to create content.

Jeremy was the most ‘glass half full’ about the future, highlighting that there is 20/25% more print out there than 10 years ago. So, if the print count is going down, there’s still a long way to go in his eyes.