Factory Media publish a wide portfolio of action sports titles, covering BMX biking to surfing to windsurfing, and have just acquired six more titles in Germany. They are pioneering fully paid-for subscriptions on iPhone and iPad. During 2010, total app sales grew by 26%, with subscription sales up 343%.
With a tech-savvy, well-travelled readership, Factory were early to create iPhone apps of their print titles. Initially the apps were just page-turning replicas of their magazines, and advertisers were not charged extra for their ads to be included. So the business model had to be built around paid-for subscriptions.
The app download costs 59p and includes a full first issue free. Subsequent issues can be bought for £1.79, well below the cost of a print issue. 6 month and 12 month subs are offered at an attractive rate, ranging from 99p to £1.35 an issue. Factory were impressed by the growth in paid apps, and the move to longer-term subscriptions.
Their second generation app allows the editorial team to create alternative pages for the app, with live links, video content and even an automatically updated news feed or social media feed, so each time the issue is revisited, it has changed. In the last few months, advertisers have woken up to the opportunities provided on the apps for live links, video and sponsorship, and ad revenue is growing rapidly, on the back of a rapidly expanding reach across all the titles. Factory are exploring selling additional ads across their network in current and back issues. Whilst to start with, revenues were entirely from paid-subs, Factory expect commercial revenues to grow to match these in the near future.
The magazine apps (like Dirt iPhone App and Whitelines iPhone App) are seen as an alternative to print subs; there is no bundling of apps as a benefit to print subscribers. With a readership that is frequently on the move, digital subscriptions are highly convenient. All the apps are available on iPad; it is hard to split the statistics, but when the iPad was launched subscriptions grew rapidly. The US is an important market, but in the next few months, Factory plan to launch language versions which will extend their European reach.
MPORA, the action sports video app, has a different business model; it is free to download and will be funded by video advertising. Factory are also exploring other free, sponsored apps to complement their magazines, such as galleries. From January, their apps will be available on Android, although this is a more complex platform for development. As each user has to register their email address and password, they will be able to access their copies on different devices.
In just over a year, Factory have built a substantial paid-for subscription base on apps, and are using this to expand internationally, with an imaginative approach to advertising opportunities. Where their early adopter readership goes, I expect other specialist audiences may soon follow. The dramatic growth in subscriptions - up 343% in 2010 and now representing 48% of digital circulation and 13% of total sales - is encouraging news for other niche publishers.
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The overall winners of the Media Pioneer awards will be announced at the Specialist Media Show on 25 May 2011. If you know a business that you think deserves to be nominated as a Media Pioneer, please let us know – call 01780 758540 or contact us through our website.
