Investment in Next Issue will expand platform, raise awareness of flat-rate magazine sub service

The U.S. consortium of large magazine companies which run Next Issue Media and with which Rogers partners on Next Issue Canada, has raised $50 million from investment firm KKR to expand the service. It plans to add capabilities to its tablet and smartphone app that include content search, discovering and sharing, according to a story on MediaPost. At least in part with the new investment, Next Issue intends to launch a multiplatform ad campaign on TV, digital and in print. Richard Sarnoff, managing director at KKR and head of the firm’s media & communications investment team in the Americas, stated: 

“Today's consumer demands mobile access to large catalogs of premium content, anytime, anywhere. Next Issue's proven success applying this model to magazines has created a compelling consumer proposition that will serve the interests of readers, publishers and advertisers alike.”

Next Issue was formed in 2009 by Condé Nast, Hearst, Meredith, News Corp. and Time Inc.Currently, Next Issue offers subscriber flat-rate access to 145 consumer magazines ($9.99 a month or $14.99 a month including weeklies such as The New Yorker). Next Issue Canada offers its members about 100 titles on the same terms, including most of Rogers's better known titles such as Maclean's, Today's Parent, Chatelaine and Canadian Business as well as U.S. titles.