CASE STUDY – Information Today – Creating a hybrid media reading experience

NOTE: This case study is excerpted from the 2008 Gilbane Report.

Information Today, Inc. is a leading publisher and conference organizer in the information and knowledge management industries. The company is widely known as the publisher of premier information and knowledge management titles such as EContent, EMedia, Information Today, Searcher, ONLINE, Computers in Libraries, CRM, and KMWorld. Bob Fernekees is Vice-president-Group Publisher for Information Today. His knowledge of high value digital content has been an essential ingredient in the transition from a print to hybrid media environment.

Streaming Media magazine is a quarterly resource for executives and technology managers who use online video and audio for both business communication and delivery of consumer content. Each issue of Streaming Media magazine focuses on a special theme and every issue offers must-read features, commentary, and reviews for readers in all markets. Streaming Media magazine is distributed in both print and digital editions. Written and edited by industry practitioners, experienced users, and streaming business experts, Streaming Media magazine is the trusted resource for organizations investing in enterprise, news/entertainment, and education applications for streaming and other digital media.

Online audio and video are now the delivery method of choice for both business and consumer content, and Streaming Media magazine covers the processes, products, and services that make it happen. Streamingmedia.com is the number one online destination for professionals seeking industry news, information, articles, directories, and services. The site features thousands of original articles, hundreds of hours of audio/video content, weekly newsletters read by more than 40,000 subscribers, and a wide range of services and resources dedicated to the streaming media industry. Streaming Media’s aim is to
supply the community and those corporations implementing the technology with unparalleled information online.

The Challenge
The Information Today management team set the specific goal to moving subscribers from print media to a hybrid print and digital reading experience. Their publications are free and targeted towards groups of readers with specific professional interests. Creating the richest reading experience helps readers connect with their content more often and for longer periods of time. This helps them to generate additional advertising
dollars.

Meeting the Challenge
Information Today has 12 magazines. Streaming Media is at the forefront of their digital publishing initiative and is the publication that most often experiments with new digital functionality. The team selected Nxtbook because of the ease of deploying digital editions and the very strong support for rich media. They like the Nxtbook business model and find them to be excellent publishing partners.

Results

• They have had success in lining up sponsors for specific issues, including a newsletter promoting the digital issue.
• Because of their name and industry focus, Streaming Media advertisers and authors incorporate high-quality rich media. These links give some excellent examples of rich media in action:

http://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/crmmedia/crm0407/,
http://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/NXTbook/bestofnxtbook/index.php?startpage=32,
http://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/NXTbook/pubrecguide/index.php?startpage=14

• The associated Web site has lots of video, audio, and flash and is very well coordinated with the magazine and conferences. All aspects of the brand attract more people to the community and help sell more advertising and conference registrations.
• Their media kit is totally digital. The sales team likes to be able to demonstrate where the ad placement will be and to show typical digital ad performance data.
• Advertisers love the tangibility provided by Nxtbook’s reader statistics package.
• They now attribute 70% of their revenues to digital publishing efforts.

Lessons Learned

• They prefer to provide both print and digital editions to all subscribers. The digital edition offers faster delivery of content and better searchability and linking, and is more vivid because of the rich media content and advertisements.
• The print edition is the physical presence that provides credibility for the publication. Readers still like to browse the printed edition.
• They experimented with online communities but had only modest success. The popularity of their conferences suggests that community is an important part of their franchise and they plan to try another set of online communities in the near future.
• Their publications are all free, so the goal is to generate eyeballs and clicks.

Gilbane Group Conclusions:

• The Information Today team has an outstanding grasp of how to offer a hybrid reading experience for their subscribers and new opportunities for their advertisers.
• Because digital editions are relatively inexpensive to produce, the incremental advertising opportunities and revenues easily justify the additional costs.