October 31, 2013

Condé Nast: Idea that print and digital content are used differently by consumers is myth

Condé Nast UK move more and more towards digital as they see their public shifting towards their online platforms.

Research showed that people spend roughly the same amount of time on the digital edition of Condé Nast’s magazines as on the print versions.

Jamie Jouning, digital director of Condé Nast UK, said: “The way people access content is undoubtedly changing. New devices enter the market all the time. We have to think again and realize our consumers want to see our content on different devices.

“We are debunking the myth that people consume content in magazines differently than on tablets, because they do not.”

Condé Nast publishes its content across all their platforms in a similar way.

The time of day does make a difference for the device used to access material. The PC is mostly used in the afternoon, while the tablet is looked ad in the evenings, often as a ‘second screen’. The phone is used throughout the day but mostly in the morning, at lunch time, and as the last thing to check at night before going to sleep.

Condé Nast saw their websites’ traffic increase from 860,000 visitors a day in 2007 to 8,3 million in 2013. Their number of social media followers rose from 753,000 in 2011 to 4,4 million in 2013.

The magazine company aims to build bridges between the print and online departments and aspire an editorial team that can create items for both print and digital. They are currently remodeling the way their digital content is presented for all their different titles.

Long read articles on Wired's website, for example, are now fitted with more images and quotes to hold the attention of the reader longer, similar to what you would see in a magazine. Jouning said: "We want to tell stories online in a way we were not able to do previously."

A new digital advertising strategy goes hand in hand with these changes. Traditionally ads are placed as banners on the right side of a website. Research concluded that consumers are ‘banner-blinded’ and do not look at these ads anymore.

The ads on the Vogue website can now be found in videos, embedded in editorial content, or inside articles instead of on the side.

Condé Nast has also launched an ad-builder, which is a toolkit advertisers can use to create ads on their websites.

Jouning said: "Innovation is very much at the heart of our business as we are transitioning from the leading magazine publisher to the leading digital publisher."