It's an exciting time to be working in magazines.
That might seem a daft statement given the latest set of Audit Bureau of Circulations figures, showing a dismal performance in certain sectors, and with current restructuring and lay-offs underway in various media companies.
But speak to publishers about what they're doing online and there is enormous confidence and enthusiasm. The phrase that continually crops up is "huge opportunity".
For the old-timers - there are a number of magazine websites now 10 years old - there is vindication in their initial faith. Meanwhile, relative newcomers to digital, like Hachette Filipacchi, argue that it is the perfect time to enter the market as the costs of going online fall and demand from advertisers rises.
Every single one of the major publishers interviewed mentioned big launch plans for 2007, many promising innovative new sites and all speaking with a huge sense of excitement.
But with so many options, how do you work out how to do digital? Is it possible to translate the look and feel of a glossy women's magazine online? And how can celebrity picture-led titles extend their brands in digital formats? The first answer is probably the same as that to 99% of dilemmas in magazine publishing - think of the readers.
Will Callaghan, founder of online magazine mansized.co.uk, says publishers should be asking themselves: "Is the audience online? Can you offer them something that they don't already get?" He also advises looking at other online magazines and assessing which work and which don't.
The upshot of this? The answer isn't necessarily putting a magazine online. But assuming that is what you've decided to do, you'll then have to decide what the site is for and what you should put on it.
There's no doubt the trend for magazine websites that act purely as marketing sites or subscription drivers is dying. Not all companies have adopted a strategy of making each of their websites a profitable enterprise, but speaking to those who head the digital strategy, sentiment across the board is that it's a case of when, not if, such sites can be redeveloped.
Neil Robinson, IPC Media's digital director, says: "All our web development is set up to be successful in its own right, not to promote the magazines. But from a corporate point of view, it's impossible to go from 80 big magazines to 80 big websites in a year."
Hachette Filipacchi has some of the biggest magazine brands in the UK, but until recently had done surprisingly little online. However, Dave Killeen, who joined in January to oversee digital strategy, believes this is working in their favour. "The timing is absolutely perfect - it's never been cheaper to run online," he says. Elle and Sugar are relaunching this summer, with Red and Psychologies also slated for big online investment.
As content providers in all media grow more comfortable with the idea of free content, the idea that websites should act as a trailer for the magazine is also going out.
Dharmash Mistry, managing director of Emap Performance, says: "People are getting over the idea of protecting their content."
The web is also the perfect place for monthly magazines to feature content otherwise left on the proverbial cutting room floor.
This is the case with Emap's Empire magazine and its successful website Empireonline.com (see case study, page 32) and IPC's Robinson sees great opportunities to do similar things with Marie Claire.
Furthermore, magazine companies are starting to see the opportunities in using video and audio recordings of interviews - a trend that is going to increase as broadband penetration reaches saturation levels.
At Future, which has turned its portfolio of niche magazines into vibrant online communities, managing director Robert Price has some commonsense advice: "People want different things online than in the magazine," he says. As a rule of thumb, Price suggests that news reviews and user-generated content work online.
Conde Nast seems to have come to the same conclusion. Abigail Chisman, editor-in-chief of Conde Nast Interactive, says: "We expect readers of Conde Nast Traveller magazine to enjoy aspirational features about newly discovered destinations, but online we have to give them quick and comprehensive information that helps them make a booking."
How to sell it
As well as working out how to take their magazine brands online, publishers have to discern the best way of selling it.
Options include separate teams looking after print and digital; teams doing deals across a single brand online and in print; or cross-platform sales teams, which look at advertisers and create bespoke campaigns across a number of different properties.
Conde Nast keeps a dedicated online commercial team, but says there are occasions when it makes sense for it to work with the ad team of a specific print magazine on areas of cross-pollination.
IPC's solution is a mixture. At Ignite, which includes Nuts, Loaded, NME and Uncut, the specialist music and entertainment sales teams work hand-in-hand with a small team of in-house digital sales experts.
Andrew Sanders, new-media sales director, says the structure "ensures our clients have one-stop access to all the necessary expertise they need for any multiple channel campaign".
As for the disparity between print and web deals, publishers claim it's not an issue. The rule of thumb is the same for print - teams are set targets and given incentives to hit them. And with the cost of online advertising rising, it becomes even less of a factor.
"The average size of a web deal within Ignite is roughly equitable with those for display trading and we ensure that everyone is incentivised not just to understand the potential of digital but also to sell across our digital channels," says Sanders.
The Emap(2) team, dedicated to cross-platform selling, works with strategic planners on solutions that put ideas and brands first, and the platforms to deliver the communications second.
Bruce Daisley, digital sales director, says: "Our recent ad effectiveness research showed media impacts delivered across different platforms of the same brand were more effective than the same number of impacts delivered across a range of media brands. Cross-platform sales are working and our clients want us to deliver it."
The rise of online-only brands
Most publishers have at least one online-only brand; those that don't either have plans to launch one or are at least looking at the possibility.
At Emap, Mistry explains that aggregating audiences across brands is just one of three digital strategies employed, together with extending existing brands across multiple platforms, such as mobile and television, and acquisitions and partnerships. Emap is experimenting with an online-only extension of the Closer brand, Closerdiets.com, which draws on its readers' interest in celebrity diets.
Conde Nast has unveiled its first online-only brand, Stylefinder.com, showcasing fashion and beauty buys available online and on the high street, based on the expertise of Vogue and Glamour.
Publications for niche groups have demonstrated the art of developing and keeping audiences of loyal, often interactive readers. Future's Price says: "The great thing about being a specialist media company is that we have a lot of very active communities already."
Websites as diverse as IPC's Decanter.com and Natmag-Rodale's Runnersworld.co.uk have built large, active audiences, giving advertisers access to people they might not reach using only the print version.
What about ezines?
Even the word ezine sounds like a relic from the dotcom era, and in fact Dennis's James Mallinson, publisher of new online magazine Monkey, prefers the term emags. Monkey has spawned huge interest in what was largely considered a bit of a dead medium, not least because it boasts an ABCe figure of more than 200,000. Dennis has no concrete plans to launch another emag, but Mallinson says: "It's been hugely positive. Monkey has been a huge success and we're open to other possibilities."
NatMags is trying out the format, this time aiming at teenage girls with Jellyfish, launched last week, but other publishers are more sceptical.
Emap's Mistry says: "We will wait and see. It's strange to bring the strength of one medium - a piece of paper - to a new medium."
The future
Peter Phippen, managing director of BBC Magazines, thinks that high-quality video is soon going to bring big changes. "It's crucial to bring rich video content into these sites. We've been operating for years with low web speeds, which has a lot of direct comparisons with magazines - static content with text and pictures," he concedes.
"More than half the population has broadband, mostly with high-speed connections, and the ability to deliver good-quality video, as well as an understanding of how communities gather online, is important."
Publishers are also looking at electronic paper and how magazines will work then. But it's still some way off and most have their hands too full with new launches in 2007 to worry about that yet.
TIPS FOR TAKING YOUR BRAND ONLINE
- Be guided by the readers, not the magazine. Does your magazine need to be online? Is the audience there and what can an online version of your title contribute?
- Think about the essence of the magazine brand, rather than how the brand has been executed historically. Do not be tempted into trying a one-size-fits-all approach to developing the online presence for your magazines.
- Recognise the fundamental changes that high broadband speeds are going to create in web delivery. Remember, that it is an opportunity, not a difficulty.
- Integrate online and print teams as much as possible to help avoid grumbling from refuseniks who see online as "extra work", instead of an exciting opportunity.
- Use the website to offer extra content that you can't include in print editions, such as databases of reviews and recipes.
- Learn from social-networking websites - forums and other interaction between website users keeps them on your site for longer.
- Signpost the website in the magazine and, where appropriate, use content from the website in the magazines. Web users still love to see themselves in print.
EMPIRE: A CASE STUDY
Emap's Empireonline.com website is not only a dotcom survivor, having been online for 10 years without a break, it has also managed to keep itself profitable for most of this time and garner a reputation as a site that is getting it right.
So what lessons can other publishers learn from its success? The short answer, it would seem, is innovation.
The site started off with relatively modest ambitions in 1997, a time when most internet start-ups were promising rather grand things.
Some if its success can be attributed to the close relationship that the film industry has historically had with the internet - think of early websites such as the Internet Movie Database and Ain't It Cool, as well as the pioneering marketing campaign for The Blair Witch Project in 1998.
Emap was smart and confident enough to recognise that Empire's position as a monthly magazine would not be threatened by adding a news service online.
Empire also benefited from having a loyal following and a loyal letters page. This translated online as a vibrant community of readers, long before everyone started talking about online social networking.
Colin Kennedy, creative director at Emap Performance, is reluctant to see the Empireonline story as a model of virtue, but he will admit that it was a "good-sized brand and site to take some calculated risks and see if they hit".
His involvement with the Empire website dates back to 2003 when, as editor of the print magazine, he oversaw the integration of the online journalists into the main editorial team - an unusual strategy at the time, but one that paid off.
Kennedy also oversaw a redesign in 2005 that added features such as "Red carpet access" - in acknowledgement of the fact that 80% of cinema visits are by "casuals", the people who visit the cinema once or twice a year. They might not bother reading Empire for an in-depth analysis of symbolism in Quentin Tarantino pictures, but they will log on to check out what celebs wore to the Oscars this year.
Since his promotion to his present role last year, Kennedy has stepped back from running the website and it has moved on to offer features such as movie downloads.
Although it continues to perform strongly, Kennedy says: "No one would say they have hit the perfect formula, and they are in an incredibly competitive area. But they have a way of working and a team spirit that allows them to try new things."
And experience shows that innovation is crucial in surviving on the web.