Are Digital Magazines Taking Off?

Good magazines are being closed down a rapid rate. Many are going to pure online versions or ending entirely like the venerable Police Review.

But some are exploring the digital magazine option and leveraging the iPad zeitgeist.  So far there’s been little reader research published on how these digital magazines are faring. Until now.

An article in Ars Technica reports on a study by the US Association of Magazine Media into the reading habits of 1000 digital magazine readers. A healthy number of these claim that they read more magazine content in the digital format than they did with the physical format. Whether this is simply to do with the novelty of it all isn’t questioned but the survey does point out some areas for improvement that highlight the current shortcomings of the digital magazine movement.

For example, respondents reveal that they would like to be able to make purchases from the display ads featured in the digital magazine. Why this hasn’t before is odd except when you consider how much digital magazines seem to be straightforward flatform PDF copies rather than an actual new form of media.

Nonetheless, this research suggests that the digital magazine format has a greater potential than is currently being exploited and the popularity of iPad and perhaps the new Kindle Fire will fuel new developments.