Newsstand, a fresh iOS 5 feature, has widely impressed the traditional media publishers due to its windfall delivery of new digital subscriptions. It can be viewed as a folder on the iOS home screen, single highhandedly showcasing all your digital magazine and newspaper app subscriptions. The key attribute is its in-built store for purchasing subscriptions. All the purchased titles are distinctly shown on Newsstand’s virtual bookshelf.
“Apple Newsstand is changing the way people buy and read magazines, similar to how people bought and listened to music through iTunes. It’s revolutionary,” informs Collin Willardson, director of digital marketing at PixelMags, a digital publishing platform for a number of high-profile media brands, including Esquire, Dwell, Men’s Health UK and Cosmopolitan.
Various publishers have witnessed a widespread increase in the subscription for newspaper and magazine apps after the launch of Newsstand and iOS 5 on Oct. 12.
PixelMags reported a 1,150 percent growth increase in the first week and for now has sold over four million digital magazines. “We quickly started to realize just how big of an impact Apple Newsstand was having on our business when on the morning after launch, I received a phone call from our server company wondering if we were under attack,” said Ryan Marquis, PixelMags’ founder and COO, in a company’s press release. “I told them that we were for sure — from all the new iOS 5 users who wanted to download magazines from us.”
Besides the parent company of Wired, Conde Nast witnessed a massive 268% hike in subscriptions since the introduction of Newsstand app. “It’s clear that the focused attention and greater discover-ability that Newsstand provides our brands has been embraced by the consumer,” said Monica Ray, Executive Vice President of Conde Nast.
Undoubtedly, Newsstand augments the visibility of magazines and newspapers based on subscriptions which are often compromised due to games, social media and photo apps. But after the launch of Newsstand, the National Geographic iPad app climbed up to #18 spot in the Free Apps chart last week. The New York Times iPhone app appears #27 today.
However not everyone is happy with the inclusion of Newsstand in the iOS ecosystem as some users find its glaring bookshelf quite irritating and also Newsstand is a folder and not an app so it can’t be easily removed from the home screen. Although these individuals forms a meek minority; The users are filling up the empty shelves with digital subscriptions, giving a much-needed boost to magazine and newspaper app makers, and the publishing industry in general.
