As I have written previously, I have been reading eMags for a number of years thanks to Zinio. I first used the service on my computer but found it to be truly useful when I began using Tablet PCs. Later, during my UMPC stage I found it even more ugreat since, due to the light weight and small size of the UMPC, I was able to carry it with me pretty much everywhere. I share this bit of personal tech history because, for me, Zinio is a well-known brand. I see their name or logo and I automatically think “eMags”. It is for that reason that I immediately downloaded Zinio to my iPad when it arrived a few months ago and have since used it as my source for any and all magazines I read. (Assuming they are available through Zinio, of course.) For me Zinio is the brand that says- magazines.
For other, however, this is not the case. Many people don’t know Zinio. For them the idea of locating a specific magazine title and purchasing/downloading it makes more sense. For them the magazine IS the brand. In order to get them to start using Zinio there has to be some education regarding what Zinio is and how it functions. That kind of a learning curve, as slight as it might be, is an obstacle to Zinio extending its reach even further.
That, I suspect, is part of the reason that Zinio has just made a significant move into “branded apps”. Now you will find a growing assortment of magazine apps in the iTunes App Store that look like they are published by that specific magazine. They look that way because… they are. The difference is that when you launch the app in order to read the magazine you’ll see the words “Powered by Zinio” briefly appear. That’s because they ARE Zinio-powered apps but they are individual magazine apps rather than part of the larger Zinio catalogue. At the same time, however, the magazines you purchase AS APPS will also enjoy Zinio’s UNITY platform that allows access to all magazines you purchase across your devices. The only difference is that you go straight to the app in the App Store or on your device rather than through the Zinio app as a portal.
As Rich Maggiotto, President & CEO of Zinio explains,
“During this time of clear industry transformation it is exciting to be in a position to offer our growing portfolio of 3,000+ top magazine titles a direct line to ignite even more passionate experiences with the readers through a branded app all the while maintaining the richness, utility, expansiveness, convenience, and efficiency, of our global service.”
Personally I much prefer using the one Zinio app as a portal to my entire bookshelf of magazines than the idea of having a lot of individual magazine apps on my iPad but from a marketing and reach perspective this is a brilliant move. Now, rather than people having to learn about Zinio they just need to look for their favorite magazine. Either way you get the benefits of Zinio’s system. You just get to the magazines in the manner you prefer.
The full release follows…
Zinio Introduces ‘Branded App’ Global Solution for Magazine Publishers Within iTunes™ App Store
UNITY™ Platform Extension Leverages National Geographic Magazine, National Geographic Traveler, and Sporting New Today as Launch Partners
SAN FRANCISCO, Sept. 7 /PRNewswire/ — Zinio, the global leader in digital-publishing technology and services, today announced an expansion of their product offering and services to include Branded Apps for the Apple ITunes™ App Store. This announcement further extends the reach of its “read anywhere” Zinio UNITY™ platform and enables additional discoverability for publishers in their multi-device efforts to drive subscription growth and brand affinity.Each branded app powered by Zinio includes the same highly engaging and interactive features that have driven Zinio’s top ranked magazine newsstand and reading app. National Geographic Magazine, National Geographic Traveler, and Sporting News Today are the first, with many to follow, to take advantage of this product and service extension offered exclusively to Zinio clients. As of today, fans of these specific brands can enjoy browsing featured articles, purchasing single issues, back issues and subscriptions right from a standalone title-branded app. By leveraging Zinio’s UNITY™ distribution platform, consumers are provided immediate access to their full library of issues for these titles whether purchased through the branded app itself, or through any other enabled retail or device extensions with Zinio’s quickly growing global network.
“During this time of clear industry transformation,” said Rich Maggiotto, President & CEO of Zinio, “it is exciting to be in a position to offer our growing portfolio of 3,000+ top magazine titles a direct line to ignite even more passionate experiences with the readers through a branded app all the while maintaining the richness, utility, expansiveness, convenience, and efficiency, of our global service.”
“National Geographic Magazine, and National Geographic Traveler have experienced successful expansion and growth in the six months since we have launched our digital versions with Zinio” said Paul Levine, EVP Interactive Platforms Group, National Geographic Global Media. “Combining this experience with the successes of our Complete National Geographic software product, our iPad Atlas app and the like makes perfect sense. We continue to successfully grow and engage our global consumer base through added multi-channel exposure, and we see these interactive magazine offerings as pivotal to drive broader consumer reach and to explore new digital business models.”
“Zinio continues to be a terrific partner for us, and a key part of our value proposition,” said Jeff Price, president and CEO of Sporting News. “Since the launch of Sporting New Today on Zinio, we have heard from countless subscribers who begin each morning downloading and reading the latest daily issue on their iPad before school or work. As we continue to enhance our iPad edition with photo slideshows and extra videos, as well as a fully interactive, state-of-the-art scoreboards we know our content will be received even more enthusiastically by highly engaged sports fans.”
All branded apps will be offered for free, and include issues as a bonus. All apps, including Zinio’s universal global newsstand and reading app, are all available for download at zinio.com/apps or directly by searching for each brand name within iTunes at www.apple.com/itunes.
About Zinio:
Zinio is the world’s largest newsstand and bookstore. With its many digital products and services, Zinio creates better ways for people to discover published content, get more of it and do more with it. Now, readers can purchase content once to be read on any screen. Zinio provides the ability to shop for, search inside, read, share and save digital content in 25 local newsstands in any country in the world. Through the ZINIO UNITY™ reading platform, readers can move seamlessly within each publication page between text, interactive graphics, animated illustrations, videos more on most operating systems. Offering hundreds of thousands of the best digital issues, Zinio’s e-stores and applications are revolutionizing reading. Founded in 2001 and privately held, Zinio is headquartered in San Francisco and has offices in New York, London, Paris, Barcelona and Taipei.
About National Geographic:
The National Geographic Society is one of the world’s largest nonprofit scientific and educational organizations. Founded in 1888 to “increase and diffuse geographic knowledge,” the Society works to inspire people to care about the planet. National Geographic reflects the world through its magazines, television programs, films, music and radio, books, DVDs, maps, exhibitions, live events, school publishing programs, interactive media and merchandise. National Geographic magazine, the Society’s official journal, published in English and 32 local-language editions, is read by more than 38 million people each month. The National Geographic Channel reaches 330 million households in 34 languages in 166 countries. National Geographic Digital Media receives more than 15 million visitors a month. National Geographic has funded more than 9,400 scientific research, conservation and exploration projects and supports an education program promoting geography literacy.
National Geographic Global Media combines into one group the consumer content units of the National Geographic Society, including National Geographic Books and the National Geographic Magazine Group, and the business units that make up National Geographic Ventures, a wholly owned, taxable subsidiary of the Society. These business units are National Geographic Television, Interactive Platforms — which includes Mobile, Games, Maps, Interactive Publishing — and the Digital Media and Entertainment divisions. These units utilize multiple platforms and multiple media formats to advance the National Geographic mission
About Sporting News:
Founded in 1886, Sporting News is a multi-media company catering to avid sports fans. Its content is available through a bi-weekly publication, Sporting News Magazine; the world’s first and only daily digital sports publication, Sporting News Today; the online source for real-time, breaking sports news and information, SportingNews.com; the ultimate premium destination for fantasy content, tools and information, Sporting News Fantasy; a video and community-based website, Rowdy.com; and 11 annuals covering all major sports. Sporting News also serves as the national sales representative for CineSport, the leading video reach vehicle in the sports category. Sporting News is a division of American City Business Journals, Inc., publisher of 41 city business journals, Sports Business Journal, Sports Business Daily, NASCAR Illustrated and Inside Lacrosse.
