Explorations, Featured Explorations

Time Inc. put out a video today of what will be (and in some cases envision) the ‘new magazine’.  Unfortunately, the ‘new magazine’, is a lot like the old magazine, only digital instead of a paper product.  Magazines are currently a dying breed.  There simply isn’t enough ad revenue to sustain most magazines, which usually results in reduced staff, lower quality, and a decline in readership, which eventually equals the demise of the magazine completely.  The problem with this ‘new magazine format’ is that it doesn’t really address the problems that are currently plaguing magazines.

Click to Be Taken to the Youtube Video Demonstration of the Tablet Reader

In general, the information and articles that are presented in these magazines are almost all available online in some form.  Magazines are still working as though the internet does not exist, that it cannot provide a willing user almost limitless access to any type of information they wish (and some they don’t), at a moments notice.  Magazines operate under huge lead times, often prepping and finishing a magazine a month to two in advance of the actual street date.  Obviously, this means that things can happen between the time the magazine hits the newstands and the time that it has gone to press quite easily.  A tablet version would seem to solve that problem at first, but it just exposes the root of the problem in that, the internet can simply do that type of information retrieval better, faster, and easier for the user.  The problem stems from these magazines not being able to differentiate themselves enough in the eyes of the reader from any standard website that can provide them with this information.  There simply is no innovation.

Looking at what Time Inc. has planned for the digital magazine, it seems like the biggest innovation they have is the ability to customize some contents of the magazine to the users liking, such as adding a custom fantasy football team to track, and videos embedded into the magazine, as well as (and this one is clearly for the user…) more dynamic advertising.  Is that really what they feel passes for innovative and attention grabbing?  Various websites have been doing this for years now.  Custom homepages are tailored to the individual users’ needs, and across a much broader scope than say just sports, but rather, politics, entertainment, technology and then maybe sports as well.  Magazines are simply failing to leverage their greatest asset over the internet.

Put simply, the writing one finds on the internet is 95% drivel.  Put up against writing consisting mainly of blogs, anonymous comments, and poorly written reviews and commentary, magazine writers are made to look like Hemingway.  These writers need to be afforded the freedom to chase and write articles that are compelling, and are not the standard canned articles you can find anywhere on the internet with a couple clicks.  They need to dig deeper, evoke some wonder, intrigue, emotion, something.  The angles on the articles need to be fresh and attention grabbing.  The content once again has to reign supreme.  You can’t compete against the internet in a direct manner, if any lesson was to be learned from the music industry.  What you have to do, is find a slightly different avenue to travel down, and then do your best to leverage the opportunities that the internet presents.  If a magazine can write compelling content on a monthly (or perhaps bi-weekly?) basis, with the ability to have access to all the same features (pictures, videos, real time scores, etc) the internet presents all month long, then perhaps the product can succeed.  As it stands, Time Inc.’s vision is thoroughly underwhelming.