Why Do You Need to Create a Mobile App for Your Magazine?
In the world after the information revolution, digital magazines’ business is among the rapidly growing. And in the modern conditions being present in the web is just not enough any longer. Since mobile devices have seized people's attention, mobile apps not only became a must for big business players but also wage an expansion to the small and mid-size segment.
In fact, mobile apps became such an important marketing tool mostly due to very high and evergrowing smartphone and tablet usage. A survey by Gallup says that majority of Americans, as much as three-quarters, check their smartphones once per hour or even more often. And mostly they spend their mobile media time using mobile apps. Here “mostly” means as high as 89%!
Source: www.smartinsights.com
So it's safe to state that mobile apps are advantageous for business. Stakes are also quite high regarding mobile apps for magazines. There are serious hints that they are becoming industry standard. Suffice to say that all the grand players are already there, with The New York Times sporting 10 million downloads of their newspaper app, USA Today - 5 million, Time Mobile and The Guardian - over one million and Forbes and Wall Street Journal - over 100 thousand. All those only on Android. App Store statistics is undisclosed but more than 200 thousand ratings for The New York Times app and the total of nine iPhone and five iPad apps from The New York Times Company present in App Store speak for themselves. They even have a VR one. And what about IT magazines? They are also aboard, from PCMag to Wired. Cars? Yes, including the very famous Teknikens Värld and even Top Gear. The cost to build a magazine app is considered worth it by more and more e-mags and printed issues.
Here are the seven magazine app advantages in no order:
• involvement
• connection
• revenue
• notifications
• distribution
• system integration
• online/offline
Involvement
A mobile app for magazine can make relationships between magazine and readers much more personal. Its usage rises user activity in comments and blog sections thus taking popularity and visit rate to a higher level. It also encourages users to register with the magazine, it might not be obligatory, but brings certain benefits for users. And registered users are loyal users. Lots of activities become available to readers, including sharing, circle discussions and maybe even publishing some material to the magazine. Add a feature to your application that lets a reader be a reporter from time to time and he is yours forever.
Connection
The presence of a magazine app in clients smartphone or tablet allows them to stay always connected to their reading provider. A warranty of some sort of keeping mutual interest alive. People are connected to the world via their smartphones these days, creating an app for your magazine can make it much more popular and accessible. It allows the magazine to be visible to users all the time, helps to build up the company recognition. It is a serious step in advancement from the casual reading to the favourite resource.
Revenue
Read also: Cost of app development
Magazine app is a product, not quite standalone, but still a product after all, and magazine app development cost must pay off. The app itself can bring money via the ads platforms of mobile OS developers. Sure it can be paid but in their quest on how to make a magazine app most players distribute their apps for free, and even include some free content. The in-app purchases are their revenue generators. This “freemium” strategy have shown itself quite potent. Lots of premium content and features, like aforementioned reporter mode, can bring you money. You also receive a direct marketing channel allowing you to promote products both yours and that of your partners. In any way, there is always a flexible model to monetize the effort.
Notifications
It is no longer customer's job to check up what’s new. The app can attract customer’s attention via the notification system, fetch the news, draw people to discussions. It is important to keep the balance and not to start irritating the customers, but carefully operated notifications are a great tool for raising visit counts. So create a magazine app and stop relying on someone's memory.
Distribution
The application markets become additional distribution platforms for the newspaper or magazine having apps represented there. So to develop a newspaper app is to raise the number of people who know the newspaper and highly increase its availability. This is a considerable plus for startups. Thus creating a mobile app for your publication might as well attract new customers. More distribution channels, more ways to access - higher the profit.
The New York Times app
See also: Why Do You Need to Outsource Mobile App Development?
System integration
There are several advantages in this field that newspaper app development brings over a mobile-oriented website. First of them is the interface: the app provides a responsive and familiar interface, close to the rest of OS in design. iOS users get iOS-like apps, and Android users get an app custom designed for their platform of choice. This eliminates motley and untidy impressions. The next serious plus is performance: mobile apps are far ahead of websites, especially interactive ones, in terms of speed and response. Finally, apps have an incomparable access to the devices. Need a direct camera access - there you go, post an audio comment - the microphone is ready. Generate a QR code to share a link to a friend standing nearby with his cam ready to scan - not a problem. Streaming, geotagging and all other smart gadget goodness becomes available for integration with your initial product to build a whole new experience.
Online/offline
Network access is essential for e-mags in any form. But browser-based experience is noticeably meager, due to technological limitations, slower loading and refresh rates (even on wide bandwidth connections), somewhat sluggish multimedia processing. Not only the app is good in caching and preloading pages that provide crisp reactions and smooth reading experience but it might be a nice touch to add a feature letting one download a whole month issue of the favourite magazine for further reading while offline. Hiking with a tent. On an inhabitant island. On Mars.
Anyway, the huge advantages of mobile apps are going to make them a must have for any business. Magazines’ business can seriously benefit from taking this path, that is already proven by grand players. So catch up, because today’s choice lays the foundation for the future of your magazine.
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