Pixels vs. Paper

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Despite the fact that their effort has been inspired by monetary interest, our friends at Condé Nast, Hearst, Meredith Corporation, Time Inc., and Wenner Media came up with a pretty interesting idea for reaffirming the public’s interest in ungluing their eyes from a computer screen and picking up a magazine. In the beginning of this year, they created a series of ads that detail why despite growing forms of new media, people are still reading magazines. Today while reading an old National Geographic on the treadmill, I saw one of those ads I had forgotten about. I did a little research (online) and found a few interesting facts on magazine readership, as well as a few more more of those ads. 

First on the statistics. The campaign’s website states that:

1. Magazine readership has risen 4.3% over the past five years (Source: MRI Fall 2009, Fall 2005 data)
2. Average paid subscriptions reached nearly 300 million in 2009 (Source: MPA estimates based on ABC first half 2009 and second half 2009 data)
3. Adults 18-34 are avid magazine readers. They read more issues and spend more time per issue than their over-34 counterparts (Source: MRI Fall 2009 data)
4. During the 12-year life of Google, magazine readership increased 11% (Source: MRI Fall 2009 data)
5. Magazine effectiveness is growing. Ad recall has increased 13% over the past five years. Action-taking—based on readers recalling specific ads—increased by 10%. (Source: Affinity’s VISTA Print Effectiveness Rating Service, 2005-2009)
6. Magazines outperform other media in driving positive shifts in purchase consideration/intent. (Source: Dynamic Logic)

Interesting, right?

But the best of the campaign, is the way the ads are constructed. One of them states that instead of reducing readership, the Internet has only changed the way in which people subscribe to magazines. “The medium that some predicted would vanquish magazines is actually helping fuel their growth. And vice versa.” Another argues that while “[t]he internet is exhilarating. Magazines are enveloping. The Internet grabs you. Magazines embrace you. The internet is impulsive. Magazines are immersive.”

For exactly those reasons, “during the 12-year life of Google, magazine readership actually increased 11 percent.” 

“What it proves, once again, is that a new medium doesn’t necessarily displace an existing one. Just as movies didn’t kill radio. Just as TV didn’t kill movies. An established medium can continue to flourish so long as it continues to offer a unique experience.”

This is what brings me to my point. There really isn’t anything better than having a cup of coffee while reading a short story in The New Yorker, checking out the award-winning photographs in a National Geographic feature article, discovering new talent in ION Magazine, or getting your fill of counter-culture in an Adbusters. As long as it offers a “unique experience,” the medium will still be there. All the more reason for our publishers to find new ways of enticing an audience. Be it by hiring better writers, finding more interesting stories, or hiring even more fantastic photographs.

Moreover, there are even more innovative ideas spurring the minds of people devoted to keeping alive the glamour of print.The Printed Blog has come up with the idea of publishing online material. The printed magazine features blog articles. They’re bringing the cyber world onto page in a reversal trend. Through The Printed Blog, readers can still enjoy the pleasure of reading a printed magazine, while still taking in a part of the ever-expanding blogging world. 

If the public is reminded that there is beauty in taking a break, in shutting off your computer, in tearing off a page and gluing it on your fridge, the medium is sure to stick around for a while longer. And with ideas such as The Printed Blog still continuing to rise, surely more people will keep on choosing paper over pixels.