Profile of the
Digital Edition Reader
Fourth Annual
Business and Consumer
Digital Magazine and Newspaper Reader Survey
May 2009
Texterity, Inc.
144 Turnpike Road
Southborough, MA 01772
(508) 804-3062
Copyright 2009, Texterity,
Inc., All Rights Reserved
References to this research are permitted, however, please include attribution
to the source
and if discussed in an article, indicate that results are for digital editions
provided by Texterity, Inc.
Survey
Methodology
•
Fourth annual survey conducted April-May 2009 by Texterity, Inc.
•
BPA Worldwide-certified results
•
Largest survey of digital edition readers
–
33,784 responses from readers of digital magazine/newspapers
•
Cross-section of publications
–
164 publications representing 55 publishers of consumer, trade,
professional, and association magazines and newspapers
–
2/3 trade/professional and 1/3 consumer readers
–
Targeted to readers who have “read at least one digital publication”
recently
Key Findings
& Results
•
High Overall Satisfaction. 90% of digital readers are “very satisfied” or
“satisfied” with their digital edition from Texterity.
•
Digital Readers are Engaged. 92% of digital edition readers read their issue
within a week and over 52% read it immediately or the same day.
•
Digital Readers Take Action. Over 91% of all digital edition readers take one
or more actions when reading advertisements or articles.
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
90% of
digital edition readers showed high overall satisfaction with their publication
The “Big 3”
Reasons for Reading Digital…
Subscribers
like digital editions for environmental reasons, easy to save and ability to
search
Environmentally friendly
Easy to save
Ability to search
More convenient than print
More timely than print
Easy to forward
Prefer to read on computer
Unique content vs other
Other “Reasons” for Reading
Digital…
Verbatim
Responses
•
A great way to read a magazine and get information on the run….. I can
read it from anywhere
•
Able to receive and read wherever you are in planet earth
•
Allows me to read content in the x minutes while the computer is
"doing something else" (i.e. virus check, backups)
•
Can access when traveling
•
Cheaper + More reliable delivery
•
Doesn't clutter my office or house like magazines do
•
Embedded links to other areas of interest
Action
Oriented with Products or Services
Over 91%
of all digital edition readers take one or more actions when reading the
digital edition
Discussed with others
Looked at the advertiser's
website
Emailed to friend/colleague
Incorporated new
technique/medium/product
Recommended purchase of
product or service
Other “Actions Taken” When
Reading Digital…
Verbatim
Responses
When Reading
Articles:
•
Blogged about articles
•
Bookmarked a page
•
Bought the magazine
•
Clicked on embedded links
•
Contacted the author of an article
•
Immediately have gone to websites mentioned...
•
Investigated a product for future purchase
•
Recommended the digital mag to a friend
•
Researched info immediately with the links provided (this is my favorite
part of online reading)
Digital
Edition Readers are Engaged
92% read
the issue within the week and
52% immediately or 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
Continued
Increase in Website and E-Newsletter Use
Digital
readers have increased use of websites, Social Media and
E-Newsletters
Magazine/newspaper web sites
E-Newsletters
Other web sites
Video sites
Blogs
Webcasts
Wikis
Podcasts
RSS
Social Media (LinkedIn,
etc.)
Print
72% of digital
edition readers want the ability to read digital editions online (or online
with option to download)
Reading multiple
articles per issue is the norm for digital edition readers, similar to a print
publication
Read articles of interest and look through
remaining pages
Read table of contents and articles of interest
Read cover-to-cover
Skim or look through quickly
Clip pages
Other
79% 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
Readers prefer
electronic sources (websites, online information, e-newsletters) are the top
methods of finding out more about products and services
Visit company website
Online product information
Magazine/Newspaper website
E-newsletters
Catalogs
Buyer's guides
Industry events or shows
Whitepapers
Webcasts
Blogs
Podcasts
RSS feeds
Other (please specify)
Traditional
desktop or laptop computer delivery of digital publications continues to be
preferred by most readers;
over 25% of readers want “smart phone” access
Desktop computer
Laptop computer
iPhone or iPod*
Blackberry*
Cell phone*
PDA*
Amazon Kindle
Tablet PC
Other (please specify)
Sony Reader
Treo*
46% of digital
magazine* readers spent 30 minutes or more reading each issue, with 21%
spending more than 45 minutes per issue
Over 65% 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 access
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 92% of work and 77% of home users
Trade publication
digital readers* currently receive an average of 6.3 digital and print
publications
Consumer
publication readers* currently receive an average of 5.5 digital and print
publications
63% 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 41.6 years old
Digital “B-to-B”
reader experience is extensive: with a median of over 13 years of industry
experience
Gender varies
widely by category:
B-to-B is mainly male (81%), while consumer magazines are mainly female (70%)…
Digital readers
are mainly in professional, managerial, or technical positions
Survey
Methodology Details
•
Conducted April 27st – May 17th, 2009, by
Texterity, Inc.
•
Methodology and results certified by BPA Worldwide
•
Internet-based questionnaire delivered via e-mail
–
Questionnaire with 31 questions
–
Texterity* delivered survey message to 383,188 current digital
subscribers of 164 publications representing 55 publishers
–
Completed survey message responses totaled 33,784 (8.8% response rate)
–
The sampling error was < ± 0.5% at a 95% confidence level
* 195K notifications were sent to titles with an
embedded “survey option” within the notification message; remainder were sent
as standalone messages to recent readers
Participating
Publishers
•
Access Intelligence
•
Allured Publishing Corporation
•
American Bankers Association
•
American Chemical Society
•
American City Business Journals
•
Beer and Brewer
•
Canon Communications
•
Commonwealth Business Media
•
Creative Living Media
•
Diesel & Gas Turbine Publications
•
Disney Publishing Worldwide, Inc.
•
Dominion Enterprises
•
EH Publishing
•
Entrepreneur Media Inc.
•
Event Publishing
•
F+W Media
•
FMA Communications, Inc.
•
Future US, Inc.
•
GIE Media Inc.
•
Grand View Media Group
•
Great Golf Resorts of the World, Inc.
•
Hartle Media
•
Hispanic American Central
•
Horizon House Publications, Inc.
•
Incisive Media
•
Institute of Physics Publishing
•
International Scientific Communications
For More Information
Contact
Cimarron Buser
Texterity, Inc.
144 Turnpike Road
Southborough, MA 01772
Tel: (508) 804-3062
http://www.texterity.com