Flipping the Script on Page Turning Content
For centuries, immediacy of written content meant how far a person had to walk to a bookshelf, and more recently, how far he or she had to walk to retrieve a magazine from the mailbox. Readers seeking an engaging magazine customer experience can now look beyond singular brand loyalty to Next Issue Media, which received $50 million in funding from KKR for its digital aggregated magazine subscription service. The service will be accessible through a single app via mobile or tablet.
KKR, Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co., hopes that this service will catch on in print, just as it has in music and television with Pandora, Netflix, Spotify, and others. Next Issue is slated to offer unlimited access to 145 popular publications including Architectural Digest, Vanity Fair, Allure, and Women’s health, making it the first service of its kind to give customers this sort of control over customer experience in magazine readership.
However, Next Issue is not the first subscription service to offer an array of print content to customers. Digital book service Oyster already offers access to an expansive library of New York Times Bestsellers and classics for around $10 a month.
“For KKR, this investment demonstrates our belief in Next Issue,” Richard Sarnoff, Managing Director at KKR, said in a press release. “Today’s consumer demands mobile access to large catalogs of premium content, anytime, anywhere. Next Issue’s proven success applying this model to magazines has created a compelling consumer proposition that will service the interests of readers, publishers, and advertisers alike.”
The “Hype” in Hypertext
Magazine subscriptions have been around far longer than music streaming subscriptions like Spotify, iTunes, and Beats Music, so it is peculiar that digital magazine aggregators like Next Issue have decided to show up this late in the game. However inevitable the shift, customer experience for magazine subscribers provides an entirely different type of engagement than music or video.
One key difference is the absence of “auto-play” functionality, as it exists in music and video streaming services. While Next Issue promises to offer content
discovery tools, photo galleries, videos, Twitter feeds and web links, readers will still peruse content at their own unique pace. There is a greater level of consumer control in this hypertext magazine experience than in a streaming service, where listeners are locked in to enjoy the ride.
“We are delighted to have the support and confidence from a prestigious investment partner like KKR as we expand our reach, deliver more personalization, and fill one of the last subscription white spaces in the digital media world, following successful models in video and music,” Morgan Guenther, CEO of Next Issue Media, said in a press release.
Next Issue will offer subscription packages starting at $9.99 per month, which includes access to Vogue, Esquire, and Fortune, among others. For another $5, subscribers can gain access to the New Yorker, Sports Illustrated, and People.