What's a reader worth a year? That's a metric worth tracking

The average revenue per user (ARPU) is a metric that more and more publishers are, or should be, using to analyze their  plans for online publishing and to determine how much money they need to make a profit from readership, according to a post in paidContent.  Matt Shanahan of Scout Analytics says his clients are aiming at a target figure of $10 a year. Revenue becomes as important (or more

Tide on iPad magazine subs seems to be running to higher pricing than print

Consumers are likely to be surprised, and probably disappointed, by the pricing of magazines appearing on iPads starting this month. The assumption -- perhaps encouraged by free web posting and many digital "flip" editions that are priced less than their print counterparts -- is that iPad editions will cost less. The uncertainty extends to magazine managements who are trying to come up with a

"One price shopping" regardless of platform likely says The New Yorker editor

While magazines currently are in botherations about how to price digital editions to new customers or their existing customers, a reasonable bellwether of where we might be going is The New Yorker. According to a story by Nat Ives in Ad Age, The New Yorker is moving towards a model where one fee covers all platforms, rather than charging one price for a print edition, another for a digital app or

Big U.S. magazine cover prices on the rise

In a move that some  say is about time, magazine cover prices have been and are going up. According to a story in Mediaweek,
Condé Nast is raising cover prices on The New Yorker, Golf Digest and Teen Vogue in 2010, having already done so at Vanity Fair, Bon Appétit, Condé Nast Traveler and Lucky this fall. 
Hearst is lifting the cover price of Good Housekeeping, Esquire and Veranda and is

Utne Reader hikes sub cost 50%: "pay for the journalism you value"

After 25 years in business, Utne Reader is making the bold move of increasing its prices dramatically. A one-year subscription goes up 50% to $29.95; the single copy price goes up 40% to $6.99."We're asking those who value quality journalism to support it," said Utne Reader's publisher and editorial director Bryan Welch [reported in Audience Development] in a statement, tapping the current

Split run cover pricing being used to evade dollar parity for magazines

Ever since the loonie soared to parity and beyond, compared with the U.S. greenback, Canadian purchasers have been demanding at least dollar parity, and quite rightly.At first, retailers wound up eating the difference to keep customers sweet. Then, it seemed, publishers were grudgingly moving to get rid of the old "5.99 CAN, $4.99 US" cover prices. This would mean Canadian and U.S. purchasers of