Despite appearances, I did find that many were selling advertising in name only, using ads as “value added” to support other media sales. But, more importantly, I also found a core group of genuine digital magazine success stories. It was these success stories that were surveyed for this study.
Finding funding for this project was not easy in the prevailing skepticism of the time. The fact that I could not predict the findings I was looking for made for some challenging sales visits. Among the dozens of organizations I approached, only two organizations were willing to help fund the basic research necessary to develop digital magazines into a true advertising vehicle. Those two organizations were the interactive publication VIVmag and Nxtbook Media. Without their support, this report would not have been possible.
When the surveys were completed and the answers tabulated, we were all surprised at the results. Not only did we document some solid reasons for the success of the pioneering publishers, but we also documented what we believe is a new online media with higher levels of user engagement than any other online media we measured. In fact, the reader responses were so vibrant, we predict that interactive digital magazines have a bright future as a new media form and as an advertising platform. (Josh Gordon)
