Due to the print media's feet being on shaky ground, publications are struggling to find fresh ways to target readers. As many readers go directly to free, online sources to get their news and entertainment, asking them to pay for the same thing, especially in these times, is becoming a challenge. For this reason, many publications have failed to stay afloat in recent months, which has lead some magazines and newspapers to close their doors or fully transfer to the Internet.
To combat this issue, Time Inc. has set forth a 10-week, five-issue, experiment that allows readers to customize their own magazine. The magazine, appropriately dubbed "mine," will be free, and the first 31,000 to sign up will receive it through the mail, while another 200,000 people will be able to read it online. It's a brilliant PR strategy and I'm curious to see the outcome. So, will readers be more intrigued by this new, customized magazine or is there no hope for print media?
Essentially, the magazine is meant to mimic the variety and customization that RSS readers provide. Why reinvent the wheel when one is already working so well, right? It's interesting idea to translate to print. Of course, you can get this kind of variety in a newspaper, but Generation Y doesn't read newspapers and this has forced print's hand in making changes to come up with something new to target this group. The younger generation still reads magazines, however until now, you couldn't find a magazine that covers multiple areas of interest. Magazines are so niche that you have to buy 10 just to cover your interests, which adds up to a lot of money that many people aren't willing to spend right now.
So, I decided to sign up for the magazine, not only because being involved in public relations makes me feel inclined to help organizations with research, but it's free too, so it can't hurt. When I signed up they asked me to choose five publications from eight available choices including Food & Wine, Sports Illustrated, In Style, Gold, Travel + Leisure, Money, Real Simple and Time. They offer a variety, so you can learn about a number of different things in one place. The sign up, which can be found at www.timecmg.com, takes about a minute to complete. I'm curious to see how "mine" will turn out.
Although I don't think print media can offer the same customization as online media, it's worth a try. It would be refreshing if this turns out to be a success. Have you signed up for "mine" magazine? Do you think its customization will lead to its success?
Posted by Leah Southers on March 26, 2009 9:18 AM
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Comments (4)
While I definitely think this is a move in the right direction, I think in its current "form," I am a little disappointed. I signed up for Mine and saw that it said the customized mag is a culmination of previously published stories from the publications selected. Why would I want to read previously published stories? That's like taking a really old article and reposting it here on the blog and expecting everyone to believe it's fresh. I'm hoping this would only happen during the experimentation period and if they find the magazine to be a success, will have original articles going forward.
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Shannon Nelson |
March 26, 2009 6:47 AM
Posted on March 26, 2009 06:47
I agree completely with Shannon Nelson. In my mind, customization is all about new and not old. I would be interested in customizing a "Mine" if I could choose from participating magazines that would offer me new information based on my interests.
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Lisa M. Rodgers |
March 26, 2009 7:24 AM
Posted on March 26, 2009 07:24
Shannon
Came here via your Twitter post.
I disagree with you but you're obvious entitled to your preference.
The point of it is to read professionally written articles that cover subjects that interest you. Whether that article also appears in another magazine is, for the end reader, irrelevant. They want the content. Whether it's an article about Afghanistan, a new Merlot, investing in T-Bills, etc. This gives the end reader the articles they want without having to buy and/or subscribe toall of these publications.
It's not designed to write original articles that appear nowhere else. TIME probably can't afford that. Instead, what they are offering is a customized news service in which they deliver to you articles on topics that you have explicitly said that you have an interest in.
It's also designed to cut through the clutter of online news sources that we may have to go through. They partially rely on the strengths of their individual brands to get people to say yes. And by getting people to sign up, they continue to strengthen the individual brands by establishing expertise in reporting and by maintaining loyalty.
If they didn't keep the same articles, the allure of getting articles from particular publications wouldn't exits, thus killing the project.
Enjoy your Mine.
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Jonathan Trenn |
March 26, 2009 7:35 AM
Posted on March 26, 2009 07:35
I agree with both sides. I understand that they're using old articles because it's an experiment and they don't want to waste more money if it goes terribly wrong. Also, I think that if they did decide to go forward with the idea, they will create fresh material. Although, if you're bored by the magazine because it's full of stuff you already know, that will skew their evaluation results.
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Leah |
March 26, 2009 3:14 PM
Posted on March 26, 2009 15:14