publisher / future


kets for us – we’re already signed up to produce 60 digital titles powered by FutureFolio in countries as diverse as Germany and Taiwan. In the UK we’re producing the interac-


tive digital edition of Jamie Magazine, and we’ve created a new monthly brand for AutoTrader, called Ignition.


How are you developing new digital products?


The growing install base for


tablets – with estimates of one billion devices in circulation by 2016 – is a fantastic oppor- tunity. And not just to launch enhanced editions of existing print brands. We have experimented with new weekly frequen- cies (which were not viable from a print perspective) and also with entirely new, Digital-only brands. In the last few months we’ve launched a number of these – from Cycling News HD to Photography Week. Our latest venture is a partnership with the Press Association called Football Week. (see box). Every step of the way we’re learning,


and we’re applying that learning across the business. And the results are positive: overall 80 per cent of our tablet sales are from outside of the UK, 65 per cent of sales are subscriptions and we’re running at a 60 per cent subscription renewal rate.


Apple’s Newsstand has been a great success for Future in the last year - are you working with other platforms? And if so, what success are you seeing? Future has always sought to be an early player on all digital platforms. Apple News- stand (iOS) is undoubtedly the largest single platform for magazine sales globally. This is backed up by tablet industry data sug- gesting that the tablet share for Apple in terms of install base is still well north of 60 per cent. We have always been on the Zinio aggregation platform, which has global reach, and are selling digital editions on the Amazon Kindle Fire and the Barnes and Noble Nook devices. We have already seen


FUTURE AT A GLANCE


» International media group and leading digital publisher. Listed on the London


Stock Exchange, it has operations in the UK, US and Australia, producing around200 publications, apps, websites and events


» Holds market-leading positions in the technology, entertainment, music, creative


and sport and auto sectors, and attracts 50 million monthly global unique users to its websites, which include techradar. com, gamesradar.com, bikeradar.com and musicradar.com


» Sells more than 24 million magazines every year – 45 magazines sold every


minute.


» Delivers more than 100 digital editions, selling more than two million products in the last 12 months through Apple’s Newsstand for iPad


» Exports or syndicates more than 200 publications to more than 90 countries,


making it the UK’s number one exporter and licensor of magazine content


strong interest in digital magazines on the new Google Play platform. It is early days but this looks like becoming another very impor- tant route to new consumers worldwide.


Online is the other key strand of digital development – how are you driving growth here? We’ve seen fantastic growth here, above all with our Technology, Games, Cycling and Music online properties. Our Technology brands (including TechRadar, T3) generate around 25 million monthly unique user vis- its, while our Games titles drive more than 12 million and Cycling five million. Our focus has been on international growth – and in the last year we’ve evolved a successful template for low cost localisation of our key online properties so that we can grow and monetise them more efficiently in target mar- kets. As an example, we launched TechRadar into the US and it doubled traffic to nearly six million uniques in six months. We’ve since launched TechRadar in Australia, BikeRadar and MusicRadar in the US and most recently a French-language version of MusicRadar.


Is there a future for print? Definitely! We are still selling millions of magazines – and launching them too. Two new magazines launched in 2011 – Mol- lie Makes and N-Photo – were among our most successful and profitable magazines in 2012. We’ve followed Mollie Makes – a


contemporary craft brand – with The Sim- ple Things, a women’s lifestyle title. And we most recently launched Simply Cro- chet in January. All our new launches are developed using social media tools, sense- checking brand development and ensuring a ready audience for the brand at launch.


Future remains the biggest UK-based licensor of brands internationally. Given the rise in online and tablet consumption, how are you shifting your licensing strategy? Reflecting Future’s digital strategy, Licens- ing has developed a multi-platform product range consisting of print and digital content with highly international appeal for our cli- ents. Digital local-language content is one of the key assets we can deploy to help part- ners speed up their own digital agenda. It allows them to build new revenue streams without the heavy investment that comes with new product development. We already produce content in German, French and Chi- nese and are about to expand that range. Along with local language content, we’ve


developed Plug & Play websites. We design, build and host sites for our partners to drive the rapid development of their digital business. What this means is that we offer more flexible repurposing of our print and digital brands and assets; plus the technology solutions to deliver this content to market. This makes publishing on tablets and the web much faster and more cost-effective for our part- ners and allows them to remain competitive.


 fipp.com Future has seen fantastic growth in its brands on digital platforms, and now its focus is international growth of these


“We are still selling millions of magazines – and launching them too. Two new magazines launched in 2011 and were among our most successful and profitable magazines in 2012...”


issue 76_2013 | Magazine World |41


Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12  |  Page 13  |  Page 14  |  Page 15  |  Page 16  |  Page 17  |  Page 18  |  Page 19  |  Page 20  |  Page 21  |  Page 22  |  Page 23  |  Page 24  |  Page 25  |  Page 26  |  Page 27  |  Page 28  |  Page 29  |  Page 30  |  Page 31  |  Page 32  |  Page 33  |  Page 34  |  Page 35  |  Page 36  |  Page 37  |  Page 38  |  Page 39  |  Page 40  |  Page 41  |  Page 42  |  Page 43  |  Page 44  |  Page 45  |  Page 46  |  Page 47  |  Page 48  |  Page 49  |  Page 50  |  Page 51  |  Page 52  |  Page 53  |  Page 54  |  Page 55  |  Page 56  |  Page 57  |  Page 58  |  Page 59  |  Page 60  |  Page 61  |  Page 62  |  Page 63  |  Page 64