The New Content Bundle: The App

Glossy, thick, over-sized magazines are diminishing in circulation and revenue, a relic of simpler time...you can't charge for content anymore!

Naysayers will focus on the demise of this, but the new interactive medium is providing an even larger opportunity for content providers and their advertiser clients: Apps.

Already, many magazines and newspapers have picked up on this trend, I'm certainly not the inventor of this notion. A nice list of case studies can be found here.

Runner's World app in particular wows me. Running articles, of course. Instructional videos. Running trails finder. Shoe fit/match software with location-aware referrals to nearby retailers. Imagine if you could combine this with comparable Nike+iPod functionality. Killer App.

RW now becomes a one-stop shop for people interested in running. The RW App actually solves more problems for its readers than its magazine format ever did before. And that is the future for content providers: solving problems for its audience, beyond just informing them.

The slippery slope for content providers: encouraging trial without training customers to expect this for free. RW's app is $0.00. This is okay IF it is turning around and offering premium branding opportunities to clients (the app is sponsored by Nike) and somehow monetizing referral sales.

Content providers have to think more broadly about the vertical they're in and build value-added services for which people are willing to pay. For example:

Album as the App: the market proves it's hard to charge for digital music. But is it more reasonable to include a bundle of songs, plus live songs that are updated based on recent performances as a band tours, Trent Reznor/NIN style location-based fan finder, exclusive live video, remixes/acoustic versions of songs, discount purchases on merch, concert tixes. Now that is something worth paying for - no need to create formats that require customer education - people already understand apps!

Newspaper as the App: Newspapers not only can offer content, but can turn the tables and become the aggregator. Aggregate reviews from Yelp and Rotten Tomatoes along side your own. Include location-based movie listings (that theatres are no longer paying to include in your print version). Aggregate Craigslist classifieds alongside your own. Local weather and sports. Location based real-time events calendars. Severe weather and safety alerting for individuals and their families. These are things that multiple players are providing in piecemeal...but you can be at the center of it all, reclaim your position as the community hub, aggregate it and provide it as a mobile app and perhaps even charge for it (or at least employ freemium tactics...updates and alerts in real-time for paid subscribers, delayed for others; unlimited access to all reviews for paid subscribers, limit to only 5 reviews for others, etc.)

Magazine as the App: Content (text, audio and video). Commerce finders/comparison engines if relevant (shoes are obviously key for runners, but you risk being spammy if you are a more general-purpose publication. NYTimes for example may only want to focus on its Wine Club). Instructional video/audio/text as it pertains to your content vertical...classical music publications may actually offer instruction in playing instruments, for instance. Self-improvement tools (make-up, diet tracking), self-organizing tools (event calendars, financial budgeting, family calendars), time-saver tools (recipe makers/shopping lists), maintenance alerts (for bikes, cars, personal health check-ups)...

the list is endless and I'm not smart enough to list them. But you can quickly inventory a huge list of functionality if you think about your content vertical more broadly and think about the problems that consumers have who are the audience in that vertical.

And don't even get me started on games.....if you want to make your content truly interactive and conversational and with a feedback loop...well, that's a topic for another day.