Time Inc. is ready to take a page out of the Netlix (Nasdaq:NFLX) playbook, as the launch of their new magazine service called Maghound.com in September will operate much in the same way, only with print magazines.
How the service will work, is Time will offer subscribers the opportunity to mix-and-match magazines they want on a monthly basis for a tiered subscription rate, depending on how many titles the customer wants.
Pricing starts at $3.95 a month for three titles. From there they can move up the order to five monthly titles, where they'll pay $7.95, or to seven titles, where they'll pay $9.95 a month. If the reader wants more titles than that on a monthly basis, they pay an additional $1 per magazine ordered.
For magazines not offering discount subscriptions, the rate will be an extra $2 a month for the "premium" titles. That is determined by whether the yearly subscription rate of the magazine offered is $19 or more.
Dave Ventresca, president of Maghound Enterprises, Inc., said at the 2008 Circulation Management Conference in Chicago last week, “We found that those who really responded to the site were of a younger, more affluent and highly educated demographic. And those are the type of people that we went. They are the ones who subscribe to multiple titles.”
In what looks like another positive in the initiative, after four years of testing it was found that there was only minimal cannibalization of traditional subscriptions when consumers opted into the Maghound service.
Concerning ABC and BPA audits, the magazine titles sold via Maghound.com will considered single-copy sales. It's thought that in the future there may be a new classification for this subscription model.
With the flexibility and convenience offered by the Maghound.com service, it does offer a lot of potential, along with staying power for those you get used to the simplicity and ability to try new things without having to wait till their subscription ends.
The fact that it's tailored more toward consumers, rather than publishers, is a big plus going ahead. Do you think this will make a big difference in the industry? I think it's a great step forward.
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