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Tableta Rasa
Combining traditional reader experiences with innovative
digital channels to drive a new era of profitability for
the newspaper industry
Apple’s iPad has arrived on the market to retain the best aspects of the print refined over hundreds of years — while
to great acclaim, joining — but in many experience, while also using the unique also integrating innovative capabilities
ways surpassing — the functionality capabilities of digital and online to of the online world, captures the best of
and usability of other kinds of digital offer enhanced functionality and both worlds.
readers in the marketplace. Among deepen relationships with users.
To be appealing to consumers to the point
the industries that have embraced the
• How business models should be crafted where they will pay for the product, a
iPad with great enthusiasm have been
to capture multiple revenue streams — tablet newspaper must deliver a satisfying
publishers — specifically publishers
something that eluded the publishing experience to them. We believe that ideal
of newspapers and magazines. These
business during the initial move of experience is one based in large measure
companies have been hit hard by the
content to an online environment. on the print paradigm.
recession but, at a deeper level, by
The kind of product newspapers and
the great sea change of the digital
magazines should be seeking to create By bringing together the print experience
revolution, which has dramatically
needs to not only secure revenue from with online capabilities in a tablet
changed user behaviors as well as
readers (which no newspaper has yet edition, newspapers have the chance to
revenue streams.
successfully managed with digital increase revenue streams in three ways.
High-powered tablet computers — content) but also ensure that two other Online functionality delivered in the
offering full multimedia and online critical revenue streams are captured: context of a familiar reading paradigm
capabilities — represent a new advertising revenues as well as add-on can give consumers value beyond the
opportunity for newspaper publishers. products or embedded shops. free versions found online—value for
However, it’s an opportunity they could which they will pay. In addition, online
If they are to catch what may be the
miss unless they focus in particular and digital capabilities can increase
“last profitability train” represented
on two key aspects of the tablet trend revenue streams from advertising and
by the tablet phenomenon, newspapers
and adapt themselves and their add-on products. All three of these
need to bring together these two
channels accordingly: revenue streams are now critical for
considerations. Appealing to the
newspapers’ survival.
• How a newspaper or magazine on a successful print experience — successful
tablet should be ultimately designed design and experience philosophies
Introduction
Tableta Rasa 1
The Paper Chase
Creating a uniquely compelling user experience
Print media of course have suffered significant decline over the past few
years. Yet millions of people still get their news on a typical day from
traditional or offline newspapers and magazines.
A March 2010 Pew Internet & A sense of completion movie. This sense of having the design
American Life Project and Pew Project The digital, online world, for all its reinforce points and direct readers to
for Excellence in Journalism report engaging qualities, is nevertheless what is critical is largely missing from
found, for example, that 38 percent daunting in its sense of total limitless- an online media experience.
of US adults get their news only ness. Its hyperlinked nature means
Better sense of control and
from offline resources, and that an that one is never really “done” reading
interaction
additional 59 percent leverage a something online. With a traditional
Newspapers are easy to use and handle
combination of offline and online newspaper, on the other hand, one has
and they provide a comfortable and
sources. Only 2 percent of adults get a sense of reading, as the New York
familiar format. Readers have a broader
their news solely online.3 That’s a Times slogan puts it, “all the news
understanding of how much they have
powerful argument in favor of a that’s fit to print” for that day. Being
read and how much material is left.
traditional newspaper reading able to say “I’ve read today’s newspa-
experience. per” provides a sense of completion. Interesting research has recently been
This is one reason people save piles of conducted by Anne Mangen, published
Since that is the case, newspapers
unread newspapers at home: they want in the Journal of Research in Reading.
designing a mobile or tablet experience
to complete that task. No one, on the Mangen — a reading specialist at the
must keep in mind what has made
other hand, is saving old Web pages. National Center for Reading Research
them successful from a usability
and Education at Stavanger University
perspective. Here are some aspects of More enticing layout
in Norway — explores what she calls
the traditional print experience that a Layout is an art, and the layout of
the “intangibility and volatility of the
tablet newspaper designer should keep a print piece is part of the aesthetic
digital text” as compared with an
in mind: experience as well as something that
experience of text on paper. Digital
enhances comprehension and emphasis
texts are intangible and detached
of key points. The unique mix of
from a physical referent.
pictures, text and ads in a paper tells
a story, just like a commercial or a
2 Tableta Rasa
And, she says, "materiality matters." More powerful advertising The point here is that the differentiating
The relationship a reader has with a experiences characteristics of a print experience
physical text will differ from that of Newspapers are often strong brands mean something — they speak to
a digital text. Turning the page of a with clear attributes to which something deep-seated in human
newspaper or magazine (or book) is advertisers want to connect. And beings and how they are disposed to
a literal touch of the thing you read. those attributes tend to be more firmly consume information. As newspapers
"The digital text,” on the other hand, embedded in the printed paper than design themselves for the tablet world,
“has no material substance." As a the online edition. A 2008 Yankelovich they need to appreciate the things
consequence, Mangen argues, the study argues provocatively that ads in that have made them great in the past.
digital text makes us read "in a traditional media such as newspapers They then have a better opportunity
shallower, less focused way." 4 and magazines are more likely to make to design a tablet experience that
a positive impression on the people is differentiated and that takes
reading or receiving them, compared advantage of the rich online world,
with ads running in digital media. and yet is still rooted in the familiar.
This combination could yield greater
The reason is because people consum-
reader loyalty and therefore greater
ing traditional media are more apt to
revenues.
be in a positive mood. They are more
relaxed, and more likely to be receptive
to the diversion of a magazine and the
advertising it contains. 5
Tableta Rasa 3
The Digital Boost
Enhancing the print experience with online technologies
4 Tableta Rasa
Figure 1
An effective tablet newspaper will be one that combines the best of the print and
online worlds.
Printed Tablet
Newspaper (iPad) Online
Unique selling proposition for ads: Brand Brand and actionable Actionable
experience. They then become not only Improved knowledge of readers The merging of media:
the most logical method for accessing Information about online readers’ Providing more effective
the content, but also for capitalizing habits, content likes and dislikes can and interactive advertising
on readers’ willingness to pay for the enable content providers and advertisers Online newspapers can go beyond
printed experience on a tablet device. to target their messages, which static news in one format (text) to a
increases relevance and value for multimedia experience that includes
These apps can also create better
money. The same applies when video and audio content. The enhanced
“stickiness”— holding a customer for
newspapers themselves advertise user experience for readers also
longer periods of time. As a recent
their add-on products. The improved enhances the power of advertising,
Enders report puts it, “People can easily
knowledge of readers is possible on as well, blurring the boundaries
abandon a desktop website that ‘goes
tablets but is slightly tricky to apply between TV, online and print.
pay’ — they will less readily abandon
in practice. Apple, for example, does
an iPhone or iPad app, once installed.” 8 The ability to deliver enhanced
not share customer information with
advertising makes the hybrid print/
Social media software providers. A way around that
digital tablet product especially
The online experience can link readers is to have a onetime registration
attractive to the publishing industry.
to each other via social networking when a consumer downloads the app.
The traditional print ad will be boosted
applications (blogs, Twitter, Facebook, This is an extra step, meaning that
with the new online technology of
etc.) bringing more people together in some readers may opt out; to counter
interactive media such as rotatable
a timelier way to discuss their views. that effect, companies may need to
products, links to advertisers’ sites,
Online editions of newspapers have offer readers some sort of reward or
embedded shops and more possibilities
become part of the social media compensation for completing that step.
to boost advertisers’ direct return on
revolution, and tablets can capitalize
their spend.
on this phenomenon. (See box,
“Getting the tablet experience right”
for one promising demonstration of
this capability.)
Tableta Rasa 5
6 Tableta Rasa
In the end, newspapers will end up with features like a video interview with What unique capabilities and function-
three interrelated products: traditional the author?” Electronic versions of ality of the iPad are really being
print, online and tablet versions. How publications, says Olson, “can be a leveraged if one is basically just putting
companies deal with and integrate much richer and deeper experience the online edition on the tablet? How
these formats is critically important. than anything we’ve seen before.”9 is the tablet channel being used in a
Even as publishers think about bun- unique way? Companies must carefully
One model suggested in a recent
dling products, they still need to worry consider their tablet strategy if they
Harvard Business School case study
about differentiating between them are to forge a sustainable business
— a model applied to the e-book
in terms of uniqueness and value. model.
market, but just as applicable to the
That will be crucial to avoiding the
newspaper business — is to bundle
mistakes the industry made in the first
the print and digital product together.
online wave. Here there is some cause
Harvard Business School professor
for concern. Several newspapers are
Peter Olson argues that digital and
simply emulating the design of their
print versions should not necessarily
online editions on the iPad. This is risky
be viewed as adversaries. “Why not
both in terms of a differentiated reader
offer both and see if you can make the
experience and in terms of generating
market more attractive, with additional
new revenue sources.
Tableta Rasa 7
Sustainable Business Models
Online
Digital
Type of Product
Tablet
Print
8 Tableta Rasa
Does a Tablet Truly Deliver a Superior Experience?
Tableta Rasa 9
Next Steps for Newspapers
10 Tableta Rasa
Figure 3
The print and digital experiences: Creating a “best of both worlds” tablet newspaper
Print Digital
Printed
Paper
Preferred
State:
Best of
* iPad Risky
State:
Expansion
Online
Print Digital
Tableta Rasa 11
Conclusion
A new era for newspapers
12 Tableta Rasa
1. eMarketer, March 2010. “Paid 5. “When Advertising Works” Yankelovich, 10. Source: http://www.apple.com/ipad/
E-Publishing Content: Books, Newspapers June 2008. apps-for-ipad/popular-science/
and Magazines,” by Paul Verna.
6. http://www.accenture.com/Global/ 11. To see an online demo of the Bonnier
2. Source: Harris Interactive commissioned Research_and_Insights/Outlook/Journal/ tablet design, go to:
by paidContent: UK, September 20, 2009. Feb2010/digitalrevenues.htm
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=
3. “Understanding the Participatory News 7. Yankee Group, “Forecasting the U.S. iAZCr6canvw
Consumer: How Internet and Cell Phone Mobile App Gold Rush,” September 2009.
Another demonstration of the possibilities
Users Have Turned News into a Social
8. “Can mobile save print publishers?” of tablet editions comes from Wired
Experience,” March 1, 2010, Pew Internet
by Benedict Evans, Enders Analysis, magazine, in association with Adobe.
& American Life Project and Pew Project
February 2010. That demo can be seen at:
for Excellence in Journalism.
9. “HBS Cases: iPads, Kindles, and the http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=
4. “Screen Reading and Print Reading,”
Close of a Chapter in Book Publishing,” by T0D4avXwMmM
by Mark Bauerlein <http://chronicle.com/
Julia Hanna. Q&A with Peter Olson, April 5,
blogAuthor/Brainstorm/3/Mark-
2010, Harvard Business School Working
Bauerlein/77/> , The Chronicle of Higher
Knowledge.
Education, October 21, 2009.