Content Marketing

Time Inc.’s Magazines Joining Apple Newsstand

Twenty of Time Inc.’s magazines, including Time, People, and Entertainment Weekly, will now be available on Apple’s newsstand app.

America’s largest magazine publisher long opposed offering its titles on the platform, but in an announcement Wednesday, it claimed to have reached an agreement with Apple.

When Newsstand was first released in fall 2011, magazines could not see subscription data for advertising purposes. Apple also required magazines to pay a 30 percent commission, according to the New York Times. These demands did not appeal to Time, Inc., so the company withheld.

Now, with a new CEO in place, the brand is changing its ways.

“For a magazine or brand like People or Time, a tablet will become an increasingly important part of the experience,” CEO Laura Lang told the Times. “Our goal is to offer content where our consumers want to read it.”

It also helps that Apple is allowing users to opt-in if they want to share their information for advertising purposes. The Times writes, “Now, 66 percent of tablet users said they would share personal information in return for advertising that fits their needs, according to a survey from the Association of Magazine Media.”

In addition, consumers are increasingly using tablets, especially iPads, to view content and news. Surely that data must have persuaded Time Inc. as well when it came to working with Apple.

Now that Time Inc. has put its differences with Apple’s policies aside, the next issue will be the prices of its magazines on the app.

Although the company hasn’t said anything about a change in pricing for Newsstand, the New York Post‘s Keith J. Kelly says that it might be the next logical step.

“Supporters think a price cut for tablet-delivered subs will spur demand and that a larger base of readers will attract more ads,” he said.

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