Demand for interactive/digital editions worth $3 billion in U.S. by 2014. That's the good news

The demand for interactive/digital periodicals has the potential for $3 billion in revenue for the U.S. magazine and newspaper industry by 2014, according to a survey conducted for Next Issue Media. According to a story in Folio:, the survey, conducted by the international consulting firm Oliver Wyman, the net incremental revenue would be about $1.3 billion. Which means that publishers should expect to see "potential cannibalization" (nice term, that) of print subscriptions of about $1.7 billion.

Wyman came to its conclusion by interviewing 1,800 U.S. consumers. It did not assess the impact on advertising, single copy sales, e-commerce and other revenue streams from the interactive periodicals, Next Issue Media said.

Interestingly, the survey found that many subscribers perceive print and interactive formats to be complementary: 30% of renewing subscribers chose a print and interactive bundle at a premium of 33%. And automatic renewals would reduce churn by 20%.

To realize the revenue potential, Next Issue Media recommends that publishers “create new interactive products; offer a large library of cross-sold interactive titles; develop innovative subscription packages; find mutually beneficial partnerships with leading OEMs; carefully define future advertising standards and metrics; and fundamentally rethink internal workflows, capabilities and organization.”

There is a downloadable PDF of the full text of the white paper from Oliver Wyman.