Top publishers average 41% revenue increase from Q4 2012 to Q1 2013

V4.9 iOS launch, Kindle Fire apps and 'Tablet Christmas' contribute to remarkable growth for MagazineCloner clients

As Q1 2013 draws to a close MagazineCloner is delighted to report an impressive trend across its publishing partners after a strong festive period and notably, maintained levels and growth through the New Year. The average quarter on quarter growth (Q4 2012 to Q1 2013) for the top 15 publishers over the last 6 months was an incredible 41%, and 30% across all publishers. 
 

From November to December 2012 amongst the top publishers revenues increased 23%, influenced in part presumably by the festive period, but then impressively, another 20% growth was reported for December to January with ongoing gradual growth in line with pre Christmas months after January. A number of factors were involved in the astonishing growth, outlined below: 
 

v4.9 App Updates released on iOS
The new build had been in the pipeline for quite some time since it's first public announcement in July and the feedback suggested it was worth the wait, with average app ratings settling at 4 stars and user engagement and conversion witnessing noticeable increases. With the first versions going live in mid December, prior to the Christmas surge, revenue increases of more than 10% were commonly seen in the period following release and accelerated further with the inevitable Christmas boom. 

Amongst the major improvements were a completely overhauled User Interface which was met with widespread approval and refreshed the app appearance, the addition of Read Whilst Downloading allowed people to instantly read their purchases rather than awaiting the completion of their download and significant stability and performance enhancements provided users and publishers with a vastly improved, and more intuitive experience. The plethora of new features all combined to influence better conversion rates from 'shell' downloads to both single issues and recurring subscriptions. 

Case Study: Attitude magazine witnessed a revenue increase of more than 40% on Apple from Q4 2012 to Q1 2013, in the same time shell downloads increased by 15%. 

Kindle Fire comes alight
After an underwhelming start for magazine apps on Kindle Fire the platform burst into life over the festive period as the device's affordable price point saw it become the stocking-filler of choice for many people. As previously reported on the , there was a 618% increase in trial subscriptions post Christmas, a 454% increase in app downloads and a 382% increase in issue purchases. 

The Kindle Fire has become a valuable additional revenue stream for publishers and seems to be making particularly strong gains in the Women's market with Slimming World and Hello! Magazine examples of titles which are selling well. The women's market was a slow starter on iOS and Android but the handbag sized Kindle Fire (and iPad mini) seem to be helping to buckthat trend. 

Case Study: Though not included in the headline averages due to the seasonal surges, Slimming World witnessed over 150% growth Q4 to Q1 (presumably assisted by New Year's resolutions - though also 200% Q1 2012 v Q1 2013), but notably saw nearly a quarter of that revenue coming from the Amazon platform. 

A 'Tablet' Christmas
As acknowledged in the MagazineCloner produced after the festive period, 2013's 'Tablet Christmas' saw 50 million iOS and Android devices activated in the week following Christmas. In addition to the record year which had just passed this meant the potential for all apps was bigger than ever (and constantly growing), and with more time at home over the Christmas period sales were larger than ever before...until January, then February, then March! 

Pocketmags promotions
Seasonal promotions around Christmas and Easter have seen online revenues rise for publishers significantly in recent months as users become more familiar with purchasing outside of the app and reading within; the addition of Pocketmags Points and competitions has also incentivised purchase through the site. The advantage of 'ex-app' purchasing is of course the higher proportion of revenue retained by the publisher as there is no deduction from Apple, Android, Amazon etc.. 

Whilst online/ desktop is often a forgotten medium with the rise of the tablet and smartphone, it is worth noting that the interest in digital reading on mobile devices has caused an increase in awareness of online reading. Website sales from pocketmags are providing a valuable additional sales source, making up more than 10% of total sales for some of our top publishers, particular in the hobby category. 

The rest of 2013....
There's always exciting new launches on the way and 2013 is no different, here are some upcoming launches and arrivals which we hope we will be writing a similar article about in the not too distant future! 

• The launch of the MagazineCloner custom edition on Kindle Fire and Android
• The arrival of the Kindle Fire 8.9" 
• Numerous new features on the iOS build
• Growth of the Windows 8 userbase and app usage
• The addition of Paypal and one-touch purchasing to Pocketmags online