"How cool is this? Video screens embedded into magazines. The possibilities are endless. Or are they?
We are already inundated with moving advertising. Everywhere we look. Do we need more of it? And are magazines the ideal format for this?
Many pundits are forecasting the end of print. We obviously think this is a croc of shit. While magazines will undergo a mass rationalization and the crud will sink, the really good, targeted and highly visual mags will continue to flourish. Innovation is a great thing but this particular advance might be ill thought out. Definitely for Australia and New Zealand anyway.
In the US, mags run mainly off a subscription model. The mainstream rags are almost given away for free when you subscribe, and circulation numbers are then used to drive print advertising revenues. Newsstand sales over there are less important in the context of overall of circulation than what they are in this part of the world.
Here, wastage rates run at around 50%. Can you imagine the electronic wastage that will be caused by pulping 50% of the mags you see on the average newsstand if this technology were to be more broadly applied?
Cool innovation, especially when it comes to magazines. But we think that this one will need to be sparingly used."
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