7 Digital Magazine Publishing Metrics

May 11, 2012 - PRLog -- Digital magazine publishing has come a long way from its inception. Some digital publishers are very active in offering digital magazine apps, including premium and affinity versions.

Like all other digital platforms, there is necessity in tracking relevant data so you can focus on the most successful products and plan for future ones.

The following seven digital magazine publishing metrics pertain to selling digital products within Apple’s Newsstand and from your own website.

Seven digital magazine publishing metrics

Digital Magazine Publishing Metric #1: Downloads – The number of times your app is downloaded by audience members.

Digital Magazine Publishing Metric #2: Activations – This metric goes beyond the act of downloading and focuses on the app being registered or purchased. If an app is downloaded but not purchased or used to register a user, then it is not activated.

Digital Magazine Publishing Metric #3: Activation Rate – Out of all the downloads that take place, what percentage of users purchase and or register.

Digital Magazine Publishing Metric #4: Activation Mix – This metric relates to the type of content consumers can buy or download from digital publishers. As you can see in the pie chart from Adobe, the four main types of transactions involve single-copy sales, subscription sales, free downloads, and entitlement offers that include bundling digital with print subscriptions.

Digital Magazine Publishing Metric #5: Allow-Sharing Rate – When you purchase from Apple specifically, a little “yes/no” box pops up, and asks if you want to share data with the publisher. Some publishers have complained that they don’t receive buyer information, yet 65-85% of the time the user empowers or authorizes Apple to share information with the publisher. This typically includes name, email, and zip code.

Digital Magazine Publishing Metric #6: Percent New to File – Are your digital products helping reach new audiences? This metrics will help you determine if the people who are downloading your apps are already in your database, or if they are new to your brand and content.

Digital Magazine Publishing Metric #7: Retention Rate – This metric takes a look at annual subscriptions and the percentage of subscribers that stick after a 12-month period. In some instance, the subscription period is monthly. Therefore, the retention rate for these apps will be monitored on a smaller scale.

These digital magazine publishing metrics aren’t the only ones to take a look at. The MPA shared five last month. Some of these are similar to the digital magazine publishing metrics we’ve listed above; others are a bit different. For instance, they suggest measuring the total number of sessions per issue, the total time spent per reader per issue, and the average number of sessions per reader per issue. More on the MPA guidelines can be found in this article (http://www.mequoda.com/articles/digital-magazine-publishi...).