In July last year, Saltwater GIRL launched what it claims to be Africa’s first mobizine – a mobile magazine which can be downloaded to a cellphone.
The lifestyle magazine, which is aimed at 14 to 24-year-old girls involved in extreme sport, has a circulation of 45,361 (ABC Jan – July 2006).
Since Saltwater GIRL‘s mobizine launch, several publications have followed suit including four other youth magazines – Atoll Media’s Blunt and Zig Zag, 8 ink Media’s Seventeen, and the Shuttleworth Foundation’s s HIP2B2 which is published by Atoll Media on contract.
Saltwater GIRL marketing manager Jade Coffin-Grey says the new medium has proven to be very popular, although she cautions that because the technology is still quite new, it is difficult to gauge the mobizine’s success.
“So far they (mobizines) have attracted over 5,000 total download users and an average of 3,000 refresh weekly— Since July, 3,000 read it religiously each week,” says Coffin-Grey.
“We believe it is a growing medium and will only get bigger. As the technological glitches are ironed out and the awareness grows through new marketing initiatives, we will see an increase in our subscribers.”
This is a strong possibility given the relative cheapness of the mobizines. It costs an average of R5 to download the software, and less for the content which is compressed to avoid taking too much memory space in your phone. Mobizines can also be updated whenever the reader desires.
However, says Saltwater GIRL publisher Sally Cook, this does not necessarily make them a threat to their print counterparts as the two mediums offer completely different media experiences.
“It (mobizine) is a total different medium so we can not compare sales, advertising or subscriptions. We are also dead set on providing new editorial features on the mobizine that will not cannibalise our existing medium. The youth engage with print in a different way from mobile,” she points out.
Kate Evans, editor of HIP2B2, says the merging of mediums is definitely a highlight for magazines.
“It allows our print publication to further build a sense of ‘community’ with our readers, as well as create hype and anticipation for the upcoming magazine,” she says.
Evans says media convergence also helps them to create “a synergistic approach” to the other HIP2B2 platforms such as the website and television show.
“Technological innovation is happening around us every day, and seizing the opportunity to generate mobile content is a logical evolution for our magazine, as well as magazines at large,” says Evans.
Editor of seventeen, Justine Stafford, says their strategy is to use technology to expand their brand.
“Multimedia brands, just like our brand, is where the future of youth media or magazines is going,” says Stafford.
Seventeen has also revamped its website, introducing new features to make it more interactive. These include Stafford’s blog which she uses to keep in touch with her readers.
Last year, the teen title ventured into a different market when it brought out an Afrikaans version of the magazine.
This was well-received. Last June’s issue sold some 10,085 copies out of a print run of 16,000. However, the Media24-sponsored project was too expensive to run and was discontinued.
“We did three test issues, starting in July 2005. All three did very well for us, but we decided it was more important to invest in the online and mobile side of our business, which is where our main area of growth will take place in the next few years,” says Stafford.
“Participation is the biggest issue right now in magazines. The youth don’t want to be preached to, but rather spoken to. Research from our urban scouts reveals that there is great feeling of isolation in this group, and therefore the need for us to be contactable 24/7.”
Last year’s national youth radio station 5FM’s award-winning Lonely Finger campaign is an excellent example of a multimedia in reaching the lucrative youth market.
The campaign managed to engage its audience for a period of three months and generated a lot of response.
Combining television and radio commercials as well as billboards and graffiti portraying the lonely finger, the adverts directed audiences to a website www.lonelyfinger.co.za which was about the sad exploits of a lone finger.
5FM used the campaign to drive home their new pay off line – “Life is good with 5fm”.
“In very broad terms the trends affecting youth radio are the same as those affecting the medium across the board, though they are a little more acute given the technologically active listenership that you find in the younger age groups,” says Helen Graham, 5FM station manager.
Repositioning itself as a radio station for urban youth across all races, 5FM last year made changes to its on-air line-up and website content and features.
On air, it brought on board popular DJ, Thato “Fresh” Sikwane, in a bid to attract black listeners and diversify its audience.
“The station’s objective is to get to the point where it connects with the issues, tastes and aspirations of its target market because these are touch-points that are common across racial and cultural lines – lines that are actually far less important to the younger generations than their older counterparts sometimes comprehend.”
On its new website, it introduced new features such the blogjockeys system which enables fans to publish anything on the web instantly – such as their holiday photographs or reviews of movies and events. The content must be in line with the website’s policy of no racism, pornography or copyright material.
5FM’s new strategy, and growing listenership, which according to the November 2006 RAMS figures was 1.32-million in 2005 and currently stands at an average of 1.38-million over seven days, comes at a time when Yfm is battling to retain listeners.
The nine-year-old youth radio station, which for many years was at the forefront of the country’s youth revolution, last year dropped to an average listenership of 1.3-million – a dramatic fall compared to its close to two million listeners in its heyday.
However, Yfm is still ahead of 5FM in Gauteng with a 4.8 percent share of the total time spent listening even though this is a drop from October’s 5.9 percent. 5FM on the other hand rose from 2.1 percent to 2.4 percent.
Highveld 94.7 still dominates this category with 11.9 percent share of total time spent listening and Metro FM has 10 percent in Gauteng.
Highveld 94.7 has an average listenership of 863,000 listeners, an increase from 2005’s 751,000 and Metro has a weekly listenership of 5.3-million- a figure that remained steady in the past year.
In Durban, East Coast Radio, which also targets the youth market, saw a decrease in listenership from a little over two million in 2005 to about 1.8-million last year.
Yfm’s brand extension, youth publication Ymag has also taken a knock in the past. The magazine currently has a circulation of about 13,500 and went from being a monthly to a bi-monthly three years ago.
All that is about to change, says publisher Earl Joseph. He says they are launching a new-look Ymag this year targeted at a much older audience to that of the radio station – the 20 to 30-year-old bracket in the higher LSM groups.
“We have taken on a fresh new approach to Ymag,” says Joseph.
“The first step was to stabilise the magazine at all levels and we are glad to say it’s not losing money anymore.
“We are refocusing the magazine and want it to be the music and culture bible of the industry. The whole idea is to position it as the magazine with the inside track and an authoritative voice in the industry.”
He says they are also working on creating a better synergy between the publication and the radio station, using the latter to market the magazine.
Asked whether Ymag will also go the mobizine route, Joseph says that’s unlikely.
“The problem with mobizines is that they might be a bit faddish. I’m also not sure about their sustainability. What we are doing is looking into how best we can use the mobile medium.”
Joseph says the goal is to revert to being a monthly publication but that they want to have the capital to do that.
In the past five years, the youth market has seen the launch and closure of Wicked aimed at teenage city girls, followed by the entry of Lunar Dragon Publishing’s Barbie for under-12-year-old in 2003 and National Geographic Kids in 2004.
Last year ended with a new youth magazine True Love Babe on the shelves, aimed at fashion savvy young women.
The solid performance of the mediums that have survived in this sector prove that while this market is undoubtedly fickle and hard to capture, it is lucrative and definitely spoilt for choice.
“I think advertisers locally still don’t grasp the influence that the youth have on spend. The youth today are a lot more sussed as to what’s available out there, and have an impact on daily household decisions – even to the extent of what family car to choose,” concludes Deane Northard, publisher of HIP2B2.