Digital Magazine and Newspaper Editions: The Data
Adoption Data
Growth is Impressive
One question that most industry observers ask is “How many digital subscriptions are
out there?” We have gathered audited data from our Data Sponsors, Business
Publishers Association (BPA) and Audit Bureau of Circulations (ABC), and unaudited
data from our vendor sponsors, who together hold a very large market share in the
digital publication technology marketplace. First, some definitions and qualifiers:
� This study covers digital replica magazines and newspapers only. It does not
include publishers' Web sites or RSS feeds, blogs, etc.
� The data gathered cover magazines and newspapers published largely in North
America, although selected European activity is included in these numbers.
Because many publishing companies are multinational, it is almost impossible
to provide accurate geographic data on where digital editions are created and
read. The scant amount of audited data is insufficient to make any statistically
valid generalizations of differences between the European and North American
adoption or usage patterns. We hasten to add that digital subscribers are found
throughout the world in even the most remote locations. Indeed, one of the
driving forces behind the growth in digital replica magazines is the capability to
reach readers located in geographically remote areas.
� The unaudited data from our vendor sponsors are highly confidential and
therefore will be presented only in aggregate. The goal of this study is to analyze
the factors driving the growth of the overall market, not to rank or compare
individual vendors. We have collected sufficient page and transaction data to
help rationalize the distinct publishing activities of each vendor and to develop a
model for analyzing the overall market sizes and growth.
� Each sponsoring vendor has unique business models and tracks different
operating metrics. When there are sufficient data to present findings in
aggregate without compromising the confidentiality of one or several vendors,
we will do so. However, when certain results are too specific to one or more
vendors, we will report trends in general terms and hope to bring more
specificity to those results in subsequent editions of this report.
� We distinguish between business-to-business publications and business-to-
consumer publications. The data include publications of types that are not
typically counted in audited reports, such as advertorials (magazines where the
editorial content is less than 20%), some hybrid magazine/catalogs, a very few
one-time publications, and some “adult magazines.” We have asked detailed
questions about the proportion of each of these types of publications and are
confident that their numbers are statistically insignificant. And, of course, all of
these types of publications represent growth opportunities for digital
publications now and in the future.
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©2008 Gilbane Group, Inc. http://gilbane.com