Magazines aren’t big online. Websites of print magazines have had a rather low profile in more than ten years of internet in this country. Compare this to the high-profile online news brands which rake in big numbers and you will see what I mean. It’s no secret that the news brands dominate the top half of the local online readership rankings, whereas very few magazines even make the top 50 sites.
The glossies just don’t see their online operations as separate businesses, yet.
Many online magazines are mere copies of their print counterparts. Many are there as an after-thought because everyone must have a website these days, right?
Very few have discernable online advertising strategies to sell their websites either on their own or as a package with print. Online magazines in the lifestyle sector deal in small traffic and don’t really touch sides. When last did you hear someone raving about something they just read in a local online magazine? Hardly ever. They’re not worth talking about. Yet the magazine print brands are world-class and very much worth talking about.
Before I carry on, I need to point out that there are some notable exceptions such as offerings by the Ramsay, Son & Parker group which include cartoday.com and getawatoday.com, and some websites by Touchline Media which include the excellent menshealthsa.co.za.
But why is it that magazines are mostly not cracking it online?
For one, magazines tend to be monthly, bi-monthly and a few weekly. This means the websites aren’t updated very frequently, compared to most news sites which change at a frenetic pace. But this is also an opportunity for an online publication to offer a daily version of the monthly print brand, thereby differentiating itself from its print parent and giving the reader a reason to visit the website.
But some would also argue that the net is a poor substitute for the glossy, silky pages of a magazine. Glamorous and luxuriously-sized pictures don’t work too well on the net where they are generally beaten into compression to maximise download speed.
The bottom line is that reading a magazine is a premium experience not too easily replicated on the net. In contrast with newspapers, perhaps readers don’t feel the same attachment to black and white, text-heavy newsprint?
Maybe it’s the length of magazine articles? Readers just don’t have time to trawl through long online magazine features during work or at their lunch breaks where there is pressure to get on the net, get their information, then get off.
Reading a lifestyle magazine means relaxation and it’s something done after-hours, on weekends and holidays, which is not traditionally a good time for internet usage.
But this describes our present reality. As the net evolves it should be a friendlier, more conducive space for a glossy magazine. Remember the internet is in its infancy. Broadband, which is now on the increase here, will mean that internet consumption patterns will change.
Broadband means people will spend more time online and will use the internet in their leisure hours, in the evening and weekends. It also means video, audio and animation will be handled more efficiently – which are all formats conducive for online magazine formats.
This is when magazines could rise up and grab online audience share, but they still have a long way to go compared to the advanced strategies of their newspaper counterparts.
Matthew Buckland is publisher of Mail & Guardian Online. Read recent columns at
www.mg.co.za/netsavvy
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