If Time Warner gets its way, the magazine industry will be dragged kicking and screaming into the digital age.
It would seem that the magazine industry is finally realizing that it has to join the digital age, and Time Warner is trying to rally other publishers so that they can come up with a solution that the publishers control as opposed to relying on third-parties like Amazon.
Time Inc. CEO Ann Moore has asked SVP John Squires to come up with the ‘Hulu of magazines’, meaning a destination that people will flock to like the NBC/Fox/Disney video site that has taken the Internet by storm. That is certainly a tall order, but it could very well mean the survival of the industry as people continue to abandon print media at a faster and faster pace.
All Things D has the full content of the company memo:
To: Time Inc. Employees
From: Ann Moore
Re: How to Put the Genie Back Into the Bottle; Special Assignment for John Squires
It won’t be a revelation to any of you that the publishing business is changing rapidly. While print magazines are not going away, and while we have built vibrant websites with over 26 million unique visitors and 750 million pages views each month, it’s increasingly clear that finding the right digital business model is crucial for the future of our business. We need to develop a strategy for the portable digital world and to refine our views on paid content.
Given the magnitude of the opportunity, I have asked John Squires to take on a new role and devote his full time efforts this summer to developing the best business plan for the future. John’s qualifications for this assignment are ideal. He has a strong background in consumer marketing and digital content and has stature in the publishing industry, as well as with digital software and hardware companies. It is likely we will be seeking partners and allies in our quest to ‘put the genie back into the bottle’.
As many of you know, we are currently pursuing four related initiatives:
1. Evolving our current website businesses by identifying and developing consumer revenue streams.
2. Accelerating the creation of applications for smartphone platforms.
3. Developing new products and business models for portable digital readers.
4. Exploring partnerships with other publishers to develop the optimal retail store for our digital products.
John will need the support of many, including Consumer Marketing, Legal, Strategy and Business Development, and the Time Inc. titles. Please pitch in with all your resources available when he calls.
During this assignment, similar to the role I’m playing at the Style and Entertainment Group, I will assume responsibility for the News Business Unit.
A.M.
What I like is that they are looking at a multi-platform strategy, I think tying themselves down to just one device such as the Kindle would be a horrible idea. Consumers want media in a format of their choosing these days, so if Time can hit all the formats, it will have a better chance at succeeding.
