Rogers today announced a shift in its magazine portfolio strategy: To address the challenges the printing industry faces, it is moving toward digital by investing in digital content creators, capabilities and facilities to produce digital programming and enable a digital-first culture.
“It’s been clear for some time now that Canadians are moving from print to digital, and our job is to keep pace with the changes our audiences are demanding. We are so much more than a collection of magazine brands, and we’ve seen rapid growth on our digital platforms over the past few years. Now is the time for us to accelerate that shift,” said Steve Maich, Senior Vice President of Digital Content & Publishing, Rogers Media.
The changes affect FLARE, Sportsnet, MoneySense and Canadian Business, which will be available exclusively on the Web and on apps beginning January 2017, with new content posted daily. Rogers will also reduce the print frequency of Maclean’s to monthly publication, and Chatelaine and Today’s Parent to bimonthly.
The switch to digital is the result of consumer demand: According to data released by Rogers, digital consumer revenue for magazine brands is outpacing newsstand revenue by 50%. Canadians have been embracing digital magazines – there are 3.8 million monthly users as of the first half of this year, up 30% – and the number of unique visitors to Rogers magazine brand has risen by 41% in the past two years.
The Rogers press release also stresses that Texture users in Canada download an average of 1.7 million magazines on a monthly basis, while sportsnet.ca has become the fastest-growing digital sports outlet in the country, with monthly reach up 47%.
