iPad editions: Lessons in Lean content
15 June 2010
E
arly stats from iPad digital editions are indicating that we might have to rethink how we present our content. Not only in iPad digital magazines but also through our other channel platforms such as our website.
Most online publishers don’t experience the same audience retention rate that they had in print. ComScore Inc, a leading market research company, released stats that indicate an online visitor would spent roughly 2.1 minutes a month on the Vanity Fair website and 3.8 minutes a month on the GQ website. Imagine how that filters down to smaller sites and what implications that those low retention stats have on their ability to generate revenue from advertising.
While it is still a very early medium, Some interesting stats have come out about reader experience with iPad digital editions. Some publishers are claiming that their iPad readers are spending over 1 hour reading their magazines on the iPad digital edition platform. Also, Chase Sapphire General Manager Sean O’Reilly told the Associated Press that their ads are clicked on about 15% of the time that the ad appears compared to the average click-though rate of one-tenth of a percentage point.
The implications that this has on a publisher’s ability to monetise their content through advertising is phenomenal. I think though that lessons need to be taken from the success of these early adaptor publications. Some are having great success, while others are failing miserable. Wired magazine sold over 73,000 issues in 9 days while GQ only sold 365 copies of its first launch.
What is causing this? Why can the iPad content retain a users attention for 30 times that of the website content? Why are some publications having phenomenal success while others are failing?
I was in San Francisco last month at the web 2.0 conference and a lot of the contributors spoke of the “lean startup” and “Lean product design” methodologies: Less is more. I think that this is why the iPad is so successful. It focused on what the majority of people used laptops for and stripped away the distractions.
I think that the same principles should be applied to how we present website content. In order to retain the user we must minimise interference to the presentation of the content. Take away anything that will cause the user to ‘lose their way’, side menus, rotating banners, pop-ups and drop downs. I think that by focusing on enriching our content & watching stats on the successful & soft publication launches we will see how the market want content displayed. The majority of iPad digital editions that I have seen follow the simple ‘slide-effect’ for page to page navigation and have a small tool bar at the bottom allowing the user to launch different features.
If a click through rate of 15% could be maintained, you will very quickly see the iPad content design principles crossing over to the standard web designs.
July 6th, 2010 at 11:54 am
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July 6th, 2010 at 12:04 pm
[...] From a revenue perspective, intial reports on the engagement of users on iPad & website digital edition is encouraging. Last week we wrote an article on the fact that digital magazine readers on the iPad were spending up to 30 times longer reading a digital magazine … [...]
July 14th, 2010 at 2:31 pm
[...] reader to key navigation/action areas should they need a function. We wrote an article recently on lessons in lean content, and how some publishers are claiming that their iPad readers are spending over 1 hour reading [...]