The Mario Blog

04.26.2017—2am    Post #3247
When digital products transition to print

It is not a frequent happening, but it does occur from time to time: a product that starts as a digital offering, makes its way to print. The latest such example is The Boston Globes’s Sunday Stat, a supplement devoted to health and science issues.

 

 

 

 

It is going from the screen to a glossy magazine that you can read while lying down on the couch, along with your Sunday morning Boston Globe. It is Stat the supplement that is devoted to “the frontiers of health and medicine”.

Sunday Stat is a new print product Stat is launching in partnership with The Boston Globe. The Globe and Stat are both owned by John W. Henry, and Sunday Stat will appear as a glossy 12-page tabloid that will be distributed with the paper starting last Sunday.

Stat is trying to get its new print product appear as companion to other newspapers as well. I had a chat with Stat editor Rick Berke.

“We’ve already been hearing from newspapers and magazines who see this as a possible enhancement to their print offerings. One model we’ve been looking at is the Washington Post National Weekly, a tab which is published by papers around the country,” he said. “For Sunday STAT — or whatever day of the week they’d like — newspapers would pay us a flat fee. We’d send them a PDF. They would print it and sell local ads for it and pocket the money from the ads.”

The way Rick sees it, this approach would  draw on fresh content from STAT’s reporters around the country. “And like in the edition this past Sunday, we’d offer a lively mix of news and features about health and medicine that would appeal to a wide readership,” he added.
I agree that this may be a way for many newspapers, especially local and regional ones, to provide the valuable health and medicine cover their staffs simply do not produce anymore.
“So many papers have cut back on their health and science coverage, and we think this is an exciting opportunity for papers around the country, especially those with concentrations of hospitals or research institutions or biotech hubs,” Rick said.
Stat covers a variety of subjects that may be of interest to a general readership, as seen through these double page spreads from the first print edition of Stat.

Meanwhile in China….

 

The China Post, the 65 year-old newspaper , will print its last paper edition on May 15, after which it would transition to an all-digital news platform.

Highlight:

…it was time for the newspaper to go digital after hits on both the official website and the newly-launched app surpassed subscriptions for the paper edition

https://www.google.com/url?hl=en&q=http://www.chinapost.com.tw/taiwan/national/national-news/2017/04/17/495713/The-China.htm?utm_source%3DDaily%2BLab%2Bemail%2Blist%26utm_campaign%3Dae37b019f5-dailylabemail3%26utm_medium%3Demail%26utm_term%3D0_d68264fd5e-ae37b019f5-392929865&source=gmail&ust=1493125591318000&usg=AFQjCNFkjesc1hyh0OPgKkDcM6VDIFtaYQ

Speaking Engagements Coming Up

SIPConnect 2017, to be held in Miami June 21-23, is a program of the Inter American Press Association, IAPA, or SIP (Sociedad Interamericana de Prensa).  The venue will be the Hilton Miami Downtown Hotel.

Details:

Join us at the SIPConnect Hemispheric Conference 2017. Organized by the IAPA, SIPConnect is a gathering of media and digital businesses to encourage more audiences and higher revenues. It’s a laboratory for new ideas and successful experiences for the digital transformation. As in the 2016 successful meeting that was attended by media from the US, Latin America and the Caribbean, experts in digital businesses and representatives of innovative companies will participate in this event.

For more informationhttp://www.sipiapa.org/notas/1211078-llamado-sipconnect-2017

 

 

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