The September re-launch issue is available as a new digital edition available on desktop, iPad and iPhone through HTML5, plus as an iOS Newsstand application. The digitisation includes an 80 year archive of both Sight & Sound and long-running sister-title The Monthly Film Bulletin, containing all issues published since 1932.
The project between PageSuite and Sight & Sound has been running for about 18 months. Publisher, Rob Winter, Sight & Sound said: “It has been a long-held ambition for the BFI to digitise the archives of Sight & Sound and Monthly Film Bulletin. These publications are a unique record of the development of a vibrant film culture in the UK. Being able to offer access to the archive as well as a digital edition of the new magazine means we have a much better opportunity to engage with likeminded film-fans all around the world. As ‘The International Film Magazine’ this is very important to us. Working with PageSuite has allowed us to fulfil these ambitions.”
Ben Edwards, PageSuite said: “British Film Institutes’ digital archive is a great way for their audience to engage with historical Sight & Sound and The Monthly Film Bulletin content, which would otherwise be hidden. We have experience with other publishers successfully implementing this strategy, increasing brand engagement and monetising existing content.”
“Sight and Sound’s use of digital, HTML5 and Newsstand app editions is an effective cross-platform strategy for publishing new editions. Regular readers benefit from ongoing bundled subscriptions, whilst iTunes and Newsstand opens up their brand to the global app audience.”
The iOS Newsstand application is free to download and allows existing ‘print plus digital’ subscriber’s complementary access, driving the 12 month for £45 bundled subscription option. App-only subscriptions are available through iTunes tiered pricing, with the 12 month subscription available at £34.99. Both options include 2 years worth of archive.
A digital-only 80 year archive is available as an additional purchase for subscribers at £20.
Videos and interactive HTML5 elements can be added to both the digital and app versions in future, creating an engaging experience for both reader and advertiser, says PageSuite.
Throughout September BFI Southbank will celebrate Sight & Sound magazine’s Ten Greatest Films of All Time with a season of screenings from the Top Ten. The BFI launches its Genius Of Hitchcock project this Summer with all 58 of the director’s films showing at BFI Southbank from August 1st until October. Vertigo will screen at BFI Southbank in an Extended Run throughout September and goes on theatrical release in cinemas nationwide from 7th September.
