Talk about adapting to the digital age. While some newspapers and magazines look backwards at how wonderful the past was and "if only" we could relive the good old days, others are embracing new media. The Wall Street Journal leads that category. Unlike others, they resisted giving too much away for free and were quick to institute a subscription model for the web. It is that forethought that has led them to success in the e-book platform. "The Wall Street Journal has by far the highest e-reader circulation of any newspaper in the U.S., according to Audit Bureau of Circulations data cited in a recent report by the World Association of Newspapers. The Journal had sold 414,025 e-subscriptions as of April 2010, up 8% from 383,199 in April 2009." The New York Times is at #3, but their digital e-book circulation is one-fifth that of WSJ.
In addition, WSJ is leading in iPad apps as well. "As we've recently reported, The Journal is killing it in the iPad department, with more than 10,000 subscriptions sold, and $2.4 million in revenue generated from them, as of June. The Journal's iPad app costs $17.99/month. The Times' is free." Seems like a heckuva subscription revenue model that will only grow as the iPad becomes more universally embraced.
Something for magazines to pay attention to as well. The WSJ model is working and it is time to duplicate their success.
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