Quality or quantity – the publisher’s dilemma

When deciding to produce quality or chase quantity, publishers are left with a difficult decision. The seminars and services at the Publishing & Media Expo, while varied, all drew a similar picture of the industry and the challenges most organisations are facing.

Companies offering digital services for print publications were the most common sight in the exhibition hall. With seemingly little to distinguish between their offerings, the direction commercial enterprises believe the industry needs to go in – with easy to build, page-turner apps – is clear. However, one magazine that wouldn’t dream of such an approach is The Week.

Kerin O’Connor, chief executive of The Week, discussed his approach to digital with TheMediaBriefing’s Neil Thackray. The need to embrace digital was not seen as an unwelcome challenge to be quickly resolved but a potentially lucrative revenue stream. The Week spent a lot of time and money on making the perfect product for their readers; about a third of the total development budget was spent on user experience. This was something Kerin considered vital for the app’s success as it was a service they were initially pitching to the existing readership.

Kerin’s focus for the digital landscape is on quality and he believes that readers will pay for it. This approach has worked very well for The Week which has consistently experienced year-on-year readership growth.

A talk between Richard Counsell, MD of Videobuilder, and Sheena Macrae, MD of In the Picture, highlighted the quality vs. quantity approaches on offer to publishers. Richard endorsed curated video content, which saves production time and money by using existing content to build up high-volume playlists. Sheena discussed original creation and producing video content alongside existing process, e.g. making a video of a photo shoot which is taking place for a magazine article.

Unless traffic numbers are truly enormous, i.e. the Mail Online, no amount of free content will equate to digital profits. Quantity may be a concept digital solution providers wish to sell but many successful publishers are boasting income success from quality, paid-for titles. An ad-based model may soon be seen as unsustainable; ITV’s recent financials, which saw non-advertising growth, and the Guardian’s need to increase revenues without laying-off journalists, are both hinting at a new future for digital publishing.