Hearst Magazines To Release Tablet Metrics On Its Paid Digital Copies

NEW YORK – Hearst Magazines will start releasing metrics on its paid digital copies, specifically its iPad editions, today announced David Carey, president, Hearst Magazines. These metrics will include total paid copies, total time spent per reader per issue and average number of sessions per reader per issue. Hearst will begin sharing data with advertisers about its total paid copies per month immediately, followed by the other two metrics as soon as possible for those titles that are currently able to track.

With these new metrics, both Hearst and its advertisers will get further insight into the engagement of these purely paid subscribers and single copy readers of the company’s digital editions. As the still-nascent tablet landscape expands, Hearst expects that measurement will increasingly become more stable and accurate, which will enable both publishers and advertisers to learn more about how consumers interact on this medium.

Hearst is following a business model focused on paid digital circulation and is not offering free access to print subscribers. “We believe that consumers are willing to—and do—pay for great content on multiple platforms and, with over 500,000 paid digital subscriptions across our portfolio so far this year, we have seen that play out,” Carey said.

Hearst recently announced that Cosmopolitan surpassed the 100,000 mark for paid digital subscriptions and the company expects to reach or exceed 1 million paid digital subscriptions by the end of 2012.

“We have been extremely pleased with the engagement metrics that we’ve seen to date, although the analytics are still in their infancy,” Carey added. “As we get more reliable data from manufacturers, we’ll be able to share more with our advertising partners. And as we build what we feel is a sustainable business model in the tablet space, the premium paying audience we are delivering to our advertisers will continue to grow—and that’s exciting for both parties.”

About Hearst Magazines
Hearst Magazines is a unit of Hearst Corporation (www.hearst.com, @hearstcorp), one of the nation’s largest diversified communications companies. Hearst Magazines is the largest publisher of monthly magazines in the U.S. (ABC 2011), reaching 87 million adults (Spring 2011 MRI) with its 20 titles. In addition, the company publishes more than 300 editions around the world. Hearst Magazines Digital Media, dedicated to creating and implementing Hearst Magazines’ digital strategy, has more than 28 websites and 14 mobile sites for brands such as Cosmopolitan, Popular Mechanics, ELLE, ELLE DECOR, Esquire, Good Housekeeping, Marie Claire and Seventeen, as well as digital-only sites such as Delish.com, a food site in partnership with MSN; MisQuinceMag.com; and RealBeauty.com. Hearst Magazines has published more than 150 applications and digital editions for the iPad, iPhone and iPod Touch, as well as the Droid platform. In addition, the company includes iCrossing, a global digital marketing agency.