Economy
Magazines turning new page in battle for readers
By Jiang Xueqing (China Daily)
Updated: 2010-09-01 09:15
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Zhai Huizhen, right, owner of a bookstore in Urumqi, capital of the Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region, sells magazines in her newly opened store. The print media market in China has great potential, say analysts, despite the challenges posed by new media. [Photo/China Daily] |
Shi Feng, chairman of the China Periodicals Association and former deputy director of the GAPP, blamed the problem on a "bottleneck" in the administration.
In recent years, applications for standard serial numbers were rarely approved by the GAPP, which licensed just 383 new titles between 2006 and 2009.
Of all the titles registered today, said Shi, just 1,000 are magazines that can be found at newsstands and in bookstores. The rest is mainly research periodicals, academic journals and brochures produced by government departments.
"There is a bottleneck and until it is solved many other problems will remain," he said.
Even if a magazine has stopped running, owners refuse to cancel their registration and some transfer or rent serial numbers for huge sums of money, which is against the regulations.
"Magazines should keep flowing, with new titles coming out and old ones dying off," said Shi. "Without an elimination system (to reclaim unused serial numbers), this pool of running water has turned stagnant."
Electronic revolution
In terms of consumption capacity and reading habits, analysts say new media is yet to have a major impact on the well-educated middle-class that has begun to form in China's cities, allowing magazines to build up and maintain loyal readerships.
"As an emerging market economy, China is lagging behind the US," said Zhu. "We're following in its footsteps but at a slower rhythm.
"With the surge in mobile and wireless devices, the Chinese magazine market still has room for growth in a foreseeable future, although that room is relatively limited compared to five years ago," he added.
However, Li Hongping, executive publisher of Vista, who is developing an electronic edition of the magazine that will be available on the iPhone, predicts the impact of new media on the industry will be huge.
"All editors will need to figure out what to do in three to five years," he said.
Yet, others within the industry insist new technology does not have to be the death knell to traditional practices. Among them is Visot at Hachette Filipacchi who said print and digital media should complement each other, not be in competition.
"China has a long history of printing," he said. "Except maybe in some parts of the market, I don't believe China will give up on print publications."
Although Wu, the Caixin Media chief, also sees new media as an opportunity for editors to share their magazines' stories and pictures with different channels, she warned the real challenge will come with the integration.
The mindsets and skills of those in the print and digital media are different, she said, so executives will need to explore effective ways to build teams that not only produce first-class content but also capable of presenting it to readers through various multi-media platforms.
In that sense, as long as the stories are of high quality, new media will have little impact other than to boost the channels available.
"It's the same with traditional industrial products," said Li Shuanke, publisher and editor-in-chief of Chinese National Geography. "With leading technologies, companies are not afraid of copycats because they've already walked the frontier and dug out the largest chunks of gold, leaving only a few nuggets for those following behind."
Optimistic or pessimistic, publishers are now looking into how to integrate their print and new media divisions.
Caixin Media has introduced an iPhone application and is now adapting it for the iPad.
Sanlian Lifeweek will unveil its profit model in the fourth quarter, according to chief editor Zhu Wei, who added that the magazine is also designing a special online community for high-end readers.
"The print media will be polarized in the future and the high-end media organizations that survive the crisis will diversify their communication approaches," said Zhu.
Revenue streams could be a problem. As the Internet is seen as a free resource, netizens have high demands of those companies that attempt to charge for news services. Research shows, however, that online advertising and mobile Internet charges are feasible, according to a study by Caixin Media.
"Traditional media will always face challenges, with new media forever standing up to confront old ones," said Li Hongping at Vista. "But the life and death of a media depends on whether it grasps the opportunity to develop at the turning point.
"Dramatic changes might happen right there," he added.
