Lightwave Featuring Embedded Video on Covers

Starting with its January issue, PennWell's Lightwave will feature an embedded video on its cover each month.

The videos will offer editorial trends and opinions from editorial director/associate publisher Stephen Hardy—"the equivalent of a video blog," Hardy says. "We believe we're among the first, at least in the B-to-B space, to embed videos in pages." (To view the video/issue, click here.)

The main purpose is adding value for readers, although the magazine hopes that viewership metrics will also create a sponsor opportunity. Looking forward, Lightwave is considering adding other video features, such as a "mini newscast" on its news page featuring items that came in after the close date for creating the body of the digital issue, Hardy says.

The embedded cover video is one notable feature within a full redesign, implemented in conjunction with a strategic shift from a mix of print and digital controlled circulation to digital-only.

Although the magazine launched its digital edition in August 2004, its basic design reflected its origin as a print vehicle, explains Hardy. "We hadn't maximized all of the capabilities possible with the digital edition, and the shift to digital-only presented a natural opportunity to work with our digital partner, Qmags, to accomplish this," he says. "Our redesign goal was to create a publication that combines the readability of the print experience with full Web-enabled capabilities, including interactivity, multimedia and the ability to click into related content on our own site and other sites. We view the new format as a print/Web hybrid."

The January issue showcases the enhancements, including ample links within each article to additional Lightwave and outside-site content, and a new format for special-focus content areas within issues that mirror similar areas on the publication's Web site. These "topic areas" are now designed as single pages, with editorial-generated focus content on two-thirds of the page and sponsored content (identified as advertising) on the remaining third.

The sponsored portion of the page provides summaries of sponsor-provided topic content and links into the full content available on the magazine’s site. (See pages 28 and 29 in the January issue for example.) Previously, sponsored content was online-only, so the in-issue topic pages are providing added exposure and impact for advertisers.

Overall, the Lightwave team believes that the redesigned format and added capabilities enhance the magazine as an information resource for its audience of fiber-optic communications professionals, while also enhancing its value as an advertising vehicle "From the advertising perspective, the links and other features will drive additional traffic to our site, and we are now able to offer advertising opportunities in the magazine that were previously available only on our Web site," says Hardy. "We're able to demonstrate enhanced ability to provide a truly integrated magazine/Web program.”

The redesign also includes more subtle changes, such as a shift from tabloid to standard-size format that minimizes the need to scroll while reading the digital format, and fewer article jumps (enabling easier print-outs of full articles, for readers so inclined).

On the circulation front, Lightwave, which reported about 7,700 digital-only subscribers within total controlled circulation of approximately 25,000 on its June 2008 BPA statement, moved to transition to digital-only starting last July.

The campaign included conversion efforts during two telemarketing requalification efforts, one in July and a follow-up in October to those not reached in the first effort. Qualified subscribers were informed that they had the option of switching to digital or paying to continue print at a cost of $150 (the same rate charged non-qualified print subscribers). Because the digital edition had been in existence for several years, readers were already familiar with the concept. Together, these efforts yielded approximately 8,000 digital conversions.

Email requal efforts, a new-name telemarketing effort and subscribers coming in through the Web site yielded another approximately 7,400 digital subs.

The transition also leveraged PennWell's decision to fold Lightwave Europe into Lightwave as of December. Since the two editions were in the process of an integrated network audit, it was possible to transfer about 4,100 unreplicated Lightwave Europe digital subscribers to the flagship edition.

The result: Lightwave's total circulation as of the January edition is 19,500+ digital-only. Advertiser response to the shift to digital-only for this high-tech audience, in conjunction with the enhanced digital format and substantially increased international reach—now about 37% of total, versus 14% previously—has been positive thus far, even with the somewhat lower rate base, according to Hardy. (Advertising in January exceeded issue goals, he reports.)

"In addition to yielding significant savings on printing and distribution, the digital strategy should make circulation requalification and acquisition—particularly the global portion—more economical," adds Hardy. "So my expectation is to build circulation in the coming year."

Another email conversion effort, with a link into the redesigned/enhanced January digital edition, is going out this month to subscribers who did not respond to earlier efforts, and were therefore dropped from the file.