Profile of the
Digital Magazine Reader
Third Annual
Business and Consumer
Digital Magazine Reader Survey
May 2008
Texterity, Inc.
144 Turnpike Road
Southborough, MA 01772
(508) 804-3062
www.texterity.com
Survey Methodology
•
Conducted April-May 2008 by
Texterity
•
BPA Worldwide-certified results
with Mediamark Research & Intelligence survey support
•
Largest survey of digital magazine
readers
–
33,897 responses from readers of
digital magazines
•
Cross-section of magazines
–
161 publications representing 51
publishers
–
2/3 trade/professional and 1/3
consumer readers
–
Targeted to readers who have “read
at least one digital magazine” recently
Key Findings & Results
•
High Overall Satisfaction. 89% of digital readers are “very satisfied” or
“satisfied” with their digital magazine
•
Action Oriented with Products
and Services. Digital edition readers
take action regarding a product or service 90% of the time, and over 76% visit
advertiser websites
•
Digital Readers are Engaged. 90% of digital magazine readers read their issue
within a week and over 39% read the same day.
Key Findings & Results
•
Frequent Readers. 61% of digital readers have read 3 or 4 of the last
four issues, similar to the rate for an “average” print reader.
•
The “Big 3” Reasons for Reading
Digital. Environmental friendliness,
ease of saving, and convenience of searching
•
Crosses Generations and
Genders. Results across age group,
gender and occupation show similar satisfaction and preferences.
High Overall Satisfaction
89% of digital magazine readers
showed high overall satisfaction with their publication
The “Big 3” Reasons for Reading Digital…
Subscribers like digital magazines
for environmental reasons, easy to save and ability to search
Environmentally
friendly
Easy
to save
Ability
to search
More
convenient than print
Easy to
forward
More
timely than print
Prefer
to read on computer
Other
Digital Magazine Readers are Engaged
90% read the issue within the week
and
over 39% the same day
High Interest from Issue to Issue
61% of respondents have read at least
3 out of the last 4 issues of their publication – similar to print readers
Action Oriented with Products or Services
Over 90% of all digital
magazine readers take one or more actions when reading the digital edition
Discussed with others
Clicked an ad to go to a company's website
Emailed to friend/colleague
Incorporated new technique/medium/product
Recommended purchase of product or service
Environmental Concern is Growing
Two-thirds of digital magazine
readers cited environmental friendliness (“green”) as being important
Continued Increase in Website and
E-Newsletter Use
Digital readers have increased
use of magazine websites, other web sites and E-Newsletters
Magazine web sites
E-Newsletters
Other web sites
Video sites
Blogs
Webcasts
Wikis
Digital White papers
Podcasts
RSS Feeds
Print
71% of digital magazine readers want the
ability to read magazines online (or online with option to download)
Reading multiple articles per issue is the
norm for digital magazine readers, similar to a print magazine
Read
articles of interest and look through remaining pages
Read
table of contents and articles of interest
Skim or
look through quickly
Read
cover-to-cover
Other
78% of “business-to-business” readers cite
“get information to do their jobs better” as the most important reason to use
digital editions
Get
information to do my job better
Identify
potential products or services
Obtain
essential product information
Get
information that helps me make purchasing decisions
Other
Digital magazine readers overwhelmingly
prefer electronic communications (e.g., website, email) when contacting
advertisers
Visit
company website
Email
company
Telephone
company
Mail
letter to company
Other
(please specify)
Other than digital magazines, electronic
sources (online information, e-newsletters, and magazine websites) are the top
three methods of getting information
Online
product information
E-newsletters
Magazine
websites
Industry
events or shows
Buyer’s
Guides
White
papers
Blogs
Webcasts
RSS
feeds
Podcasts
Other
(please specify)
Traditional desktop or laptop computer
delivery of digital magazines continues to be preferred by most readers; but
desire for handheld devices is growing
Desktop
computer
Laptop
computer
iPhone
or iPod
Blackberry
Other
PDA
Tablet
PC
Cell
Phone
Amazon
Kindle
Sony Reader
Other
47% of digital magazine readers spent at
least 30 minutes reading each issue, with 21% spending more than 45 minutes per
issue
Over 63% of digital readers value video
content positively as a useful “rich media” add-on to digital magazines
Video
clips
Audio
clips
Animation
Interactive
surveys
Online continues to be the preferred medium
of obtaining information for most job-related activities
Industry
and job information
Industry
news
Business
news
Product
news
Supplier
news
In-depth
technical features
High-Speed (DSL, broadband, T1/T3) Internet
is available to 96% of work* and 90% of home users
Trade magazine digital readers* receive an
average of 5.7 different digital and print versions
Consumer digital readers* receive an average
of 5.2 different digital and print versions of magazines
56% of respondents were USA readers, with
English speaking countries topping the international list
Digital reader adoption encompasses all age
groups, with a median age of 46 years old
Digital reader experience is extensive: with
a median of over 17 years of industry experience
Because of the mix of consumer (1/3) and
business (2/3) readership, the gender gap has closed on digital magazine
readership for this survey
Digital readers are predominately in
professional, managerial, or technical positions
Survey Methodology Details
•
Conducted April 21st –
May 13th, 2008, by Texterity, Inc.
•
Methodology and results certified
by BPA Worldwide
•
Support from Mediamark Research
& Intelligence
•
Internet-based questionnaire
delivered via email
–
Questionnaire with 36 questions;
average time 9.3 minutes
–
Texterity* delivered survey
message to 289,316 current digital subscribers of 159 publications
–
Completed survey* message
responses totaled 32,861 (11.4% response rate) out of 33,897 total
–
The sampling error was < ± 0.5%
at a 95% confidence level
* Separate notifications were sent by 2
titles with an embedded “survey option” in a non-Texterity mailing. The
responses accounted for less than 3% of total, and did not significantly
statistically impact overall results.
Participating Publishers
•
Access Intelligence
•
ALM Media, Inc.
•
Aspiring Retail
•
Awards & Recognition
•
Bonnier
•
BNP Media
•
Canadian House & Home Media
•
Canon LLC
•
Chronicle of Higher Education
•
CK Media LLC
•
Commonwealth Business Media
•
Creative Living Media
•
Diesel & Gas Turbine
Publications
•
Dominion Enterprises
•
EH Publishing
•
Entrepreneur Media
•
Equities Global Communications
•
Event Publishing
•
Farm Journal Media
•
FMA Communications, Inc.
•
Generations, Inc.
•
GIE Media Inc.
•
Grand View Media Group
•
Great Golf Resorts of the World
•
Hartle Media
•
Hispanic American Central
•
Horizon House Publications, Inc.
•
ISA
•
International Scientific
Communications
•
JuneWarren Publishing Ltd.
•
Latitude 3 Media
•
Meredith
•
MLS, Inc.
•
Next Steps
•
Nextscreen
•
Northstar Travel Media, LLC.
•
Oracle Corporation
•
PennWell Corporation
•
Penton Media
•
PMQ, Inc.
•
Randall-Reilly Publishing Company
•
Rodman Publishing
•
Soundings Publications
•
Source Media
•
T & L Publications
•
The Target Group
•
Think Services, a division of
United Business Media
•
Vibe Media
•
Vicon Publishing, Inc.
•
Watt Publishing Company
•
Ziff Davis Enterprise
For More Information Contact
Cimarron
Buser
Texterity,
Inc.
144
Turnpike Road
Southborough,
MA 01772
Tel:
(508) 804-3062
http://www.texterity.com