Some British publishers find more revenue in direct sale of archives than through iTunes

Some British magazine publishers find they make more money from selling access to their digital archives than they did via the Apple iTunes store. A story in Press Gazette quoted digital magazine specialist Exact Editions the revenue strategy.

“A large proportion of our partners’ magazines are earning more from institutional subscriptions than they are from app sales in iTunes. It is an important market, not to be neglected,” said managing director of Exact Editions Daryl Rayner.

The company scans archived editions into a searchable database and offers premium subscriptions for a fee to institutions, schools, corporations and universities around the world. Such access can cost a university up to £800 a year. Last month it launched digital archives for Opera magazine (over 800 issues since 1950) and Geographical (94 issues since 1935). Other titles it is working with include: Gramophone, The Literary Review, Hali, Prospect, Dazed & Confused, The Numismatist, When Saturday Comes, The World of Fine Wine and Resurgence.