Condé Nast heralds iPads as a 'significant shift' for digital

Speaking about the publisher’s digital strategy at a breakfast presentation today (15 September), Read said: "Magazines specialise in storytelling, allowing for space, time and deep immersion in content, which is desirable for advertisers.

"Quality storytelling is increasingly important in the digital age and the iPad allows us to convert this quality into a digital format," he said.

According to Read, 71% of iPad owners read newspaper or magazine content on their devices once a week, with users increasingly seeking online content through mobile devices, compared to desktops.

He said that while newspapers had suffered circulation decline due to the growth of digital, it was a "profoundly different" story for magazines.

He added: "To date, digital media consumption has been biased towards a ‘lean forward’, information-gathering experience. The arrival of the iPad marks a significant shift for digital towards the ‘lean back’ environment  – at home, on the sofa, and on the move.

"We have arrived at a point where magazine publishers have before them what they have long dreamt of – an opportunity to transfer the magazine qualities of deep immersion, high resolution images, long-form journalism and storytelling to a digital format.

"Meanwhile, the distribution challenges evaporate and we can reach out to new audiences all over the world."

Nicholas Coleridge, managing director of Condé Nast said the company continued to invest heavily in digital technology and talent, listing "integration, investment, innovation and insider intelligence" as the key principles at the heart of its digital strategy.

Describing Condé Nast as the "vanguard of publishing online", he predicted that in 15 years' time, 30% to 40% of its titles would be read on an iPad or next-generation device.

The claims come on the day Condé Nast announced plans to launch iPad apps for the December issues of Wired and Vogue, with plans for apps for GQ and Brides to follow.

This article was first published on mediaweek.co.uk