Independent publisher LOOP Digital Media has taken a brave step by creating its own iPad apps in-house, but the gamble has paid off with thousands of downloads in new international markets, and a new platform for larger, global advertisers.
Publisher Sam Spurdens knew that his audience of company buyers and private aircraft owners were early adopters of technology, but was surprised to discover that 37% of his audience owned iPads, and a similar proportion had them on their wishlist. 91% of the iPad owners would rather read their magazine on the iPad than in print. With over 50% of the audience expected to own iPads by Christmas, Sam is taking his magazines to the iPad and publishing just one or two print issues as a marketing initiative in 2012.
The print edition of business aviation magazine P1 has a circulation of 8,000, with a UK bias. LOOP created their first iPad edition in-house using Adobe CS5 DPS, and created the video content in-house as well. The app is free to download and has achieved 5,000 downloads in its first ten weeks, half from the US and 11% from Asia: the fastest growing market for business aviation.
LOOP have actively promoted the digital edition of P1 to their print subscribers, and believe that the majority of the iPad owning readership have now switched to the tablet version of the magazine. But most non-UK downloads are new readers.
With P1’s new international reach, larger, global advertisers have embraced the iPad edition, and have worked closely with the publisher to develop interactive ads. Limits on file size mean that the magazine can only accommodate a small number of interactive ads per edition, but global marketing budgets are larger.
In June 2011, LOOP published their first iPad app, Flighttest, a compilation of plane reviews for private owners, previously published as a print annual. Flighttest started out as a paid-for app, but has now gone free, and has exceeded 6,000 downloads, again with a significant share in Asia. They are now working on data-capturing their new readers for their newsletter.
Sam plans to bring his other magazines, Blades and LOOP, to the iPad in the next few months. The production process was extremely slow and painful at first, but now that the team have acquired the skills to publish on iPad, they are finding it a much more exciting medium for their niche content. The move was greatly helped by the fact that LOOP digital have been producing their own video content for www.looptv.aero for six years. They see a lot of cross promotion benefits from their films which get over 40,000 views every month.
As P1 evolves into a premium global publication, LOOP are developing Chinese and Russian language versions, and are actively recruiting for designers, journalists and translators.
The 2012 Media Pioneer Awards are run by the organisers of the Specialist Media Show, which celebrate innovation and entrepreneurial spirit in specialist media markets. Click here to read about all the 2011 Media Pioneers.
Want to nominate your business as a Media Pioneer? Shortlisted businesses are featured on the Specialist Media Show site and on InPublishing, and the winners will be announced at the Specialist Media Show on 24 May 2012. If you are an innovative, entrepreneurial specialist media business and can prove results, please contact carolyn@thespecialistmediashow.com.
