Zinio, the leading magazine app in mobile, has just acquired Audience Media, and plans to be the first magazine content aggregator to make white label, branded apps for consumers.
Digital magazines are big business. According to the Magazine Media Factbook 2013/2014 more than 90 percent of adults in the U.S. still read magazines and a growing proportion of them are doing it on tablets and smartphones. More than 1 in 10 tablet owners read digital magazines daily, and magazine apps frequently top the iPad charts in categories like Lifestyle, Health and Fitness, and News.
“Mobile is the future of digital publishing, and this acquisition reinforces our ability to work with more magazine publishers to deliver premium content to an expanded audience of users,” said Joan Solà, EVP, Chief Global Markets at Zinio. “There is a growing consumer appetite for high quality magazine content, and this acquisition will make it possible to develop apps for long tail content in specific niches. We are eager to serve the needs of online magazine readers in creative new ways.”
Zinio is the leading platform for digital magazine subscriptions, offering more than 5,000 publications, including titles like Hello, Wired, National Geographic, GQ, and Tatler. It offers free apps for Android, iOS, and Windows, as well as a desktop PC reader.
Audience Media provides a multi-channel SaaS solution that enables publishers to push content out in print, on the Web, and through apps from a single content management system. Clients include Cosmopolitan, Good Housekeeping, and Marie Claire.
Putting the two together will enable Zinio to offer publishers an easy one-stop-shop for the transition from print to digital. It will continue to offer its newsstand apps alongside individual branded apps for specific magazines.
“We are increasing our footprint to become the leading mobile first player for digital magazines” explained Joan Solà.
