Men’s Health Editor Dishes On iPhone Apps, Stays Ahead Of The Curve

There’s a nonstop murmur about the death of magazines and to quiet some of the rumblings, many are turning technologically savvy and counting on fancy additions like iPhone applications to increase brand awareness and eventually subsidize cash flow. Recently, Men’s Health has made a concerted effort in the iPhone game, moving forward with three apps, including “Jimmy the Bartender,” based on their popular column. But along with lighthearted fun and drink recipes, the magazine has a focused business plan when it comes to spreading the word and embracing the cutting edge.

Men’s Health brand editor Matt Bean recently spoke with Ad Age about the company’s strategy and successes (they’ve totaled 50,000 downloads so far), where he insisted that “there’s such a passion about what we’re doing now.” In the actually insightful talk, Bean addresses the difficulties of expanding his audience when it comes to digital downloads, explaining that if he were only connecting with Men’s Health readers, he wouldn’t be doing his job:

One of our challenges is finding ways for our content to appeal to a wider audience. Apps users are not a one-to-one map of Men’s Health magazine subscribers. We have 11 million readers, but if you narrow that down to the number of people who have an iPhone and narrow that down again to the number of users that want to pay $2.99 for a Jimmy the Bartender app, it’s not a viable business position. So you have to find a way for those key franchises to appeal to different users.

Bean also addresses the difficulty of finding the manpower to staff the extra operations, but notes that staffers at the magazine “don’t mind a little extra work if it means, at the end of the day, they’ll have something cool like an app in their hand they can show off to their friends.”

In the interview, the possibility of the apps as a platform for advertising is only briefly addressed, but it’s truly the elephant in the room. Still, for all of the talk about waiting for the Apple tablet or Microsoft reader to come along and save the media, it seems as if many are forgetting that the iPhone is already here and making an impact. Mobile is obviously still in its infancy — leaving iPhone apps as transitional media instead of the destination — but it would do well for publishers to keep their eyes straight ahead and follow the lead of mags like Men’s Health.

Read the rest of the interview here.

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