Free Amazon Prime Magazines, Rebranded Yahoo Homepage, International Licensing, Mr. Magazine’s Hottest Magazine Launches, TFP’s Infographic Pick of the Week, Adobe Experience Manager Mobile v2016.12 Release

Welcome to Technology for Publishing’s roundup of news and tips for media industry pros! This week, we’re sharing stories about a new Amazon Prime program that includes books and magazines for no charge, Yahoo’s attempt to bring users back to its flagship app, Forbes and other media companies boosting revenue with international licensing deals, Mr. Magazine’s annual list of hot magazine launches, and more.

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  • Have an Amazon Prime membership? Well, now it includes more than 1,000 books, comics, and magazines on Kindle devices and apps—at no extra charge. Amazon’s new program, called Prime Reading, will offer 42 magazine issues, including titles like Sports Illustrated, Vogue, Bloomberg Businessweek, and Consumer Reports. Members will be able to download as many as 10 issues at once. According to a Nieman Lab post, the move is intended to boost sales of Prime memberships and could increase competition with apps like Texture and Zinio, which let users either pay a monthly subscription fee to access a variety of titles or buy individual issues. But, it pointed out, the offerings are different: Prime users get only a limited number of issues, which can be weeks old, and they might not get all that excited about reading digitized material on their mobile and tablet devices.
  • Yahoo’s homepage—once the go-to place for daily headlines, sports updates, stock market news, and other stories—has been rebranded Yahoo Newsroom in a move intended to “get back into the game,” particularly when it comes to mobile, TechCrunch reported. To compete with the likes of Apple News and Facebook, Yahoo’s new focus is on personalization, it said, noting a new Explore section lets users browse through various categories of news and select only those of interest. The app then learns what a user reads over time and tailors the news it displays accordingly. A unique angle is that Yahoo Newsroom doesn’t just feed users the news—it invites them to also post articles they find interesting. But with the proliferation of fake news sites on the web, time will tell how that feature will pan out for Yahoo, the article said.
  • Looking to boost revenue any way they can, some leading media companies are cashing in on international licensing, Advertising Age reported. Forbes, for example, just agreed to lend its name to a high-rise building in the Philippines in exchange for an upfront fee in addition to a share of lease revenue and condomium sales when it opens in 2019. And it’s actively looking for other real estate deals: “We have all kinds of interests in making sure the quality and every use of the name is done in the proper way. [But] it’s a very low-cost relationship to the return we receive,” explained Forbes Media CEO Mike Perlis. Forbes-branded business clubs are also set to launch around the world, “particularly in Asia, where the brand is especially popular with businesspeople,” the article noted.
  • And finally Min highlighted Samir Husni’s (Mr. Magazine) 30 Hottest Magazine Launches 2016 list. “Content was diverse and designs were divine and they just kept coming each and every month,” he said in his post. “Happily, new magazines have shown no signs of slowing down over the years, even with the naysayers predicting the death of print.” To illustrate that point, he said Meredith, Condé Nast, Hoffman Media and other leading publishers were among those launching new print titles—and they’re not in the business of losing money. Lesser-knowns made the list, too, like Kazoo, Jarry, and Pallet. According to Husni, magazines are chosen based on creativity, audience reaction, and industry trends. It may be pretty hard for beginners to pick a safe mobile casino website. Experts from casinomech.net want to help with that objective. Check out their articles regarding mobile casinos in Canada and discover which atributes are vital in smartphone casino sites. Moreover, their reviewers explain whether it’s better to run games for mobile casinos on a website or a phone application. With their help your smartphone gambling experience will be much more enjoyable.

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Image: Nieman Lab


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Posted by: Monica Sambataro

Monica Sambataro is a contributing editor and copyeditor for Technology for Publishing. Her publishing background includes work for leading technology- and business-related magazines and websites.