Will The Tech Market Dig It?

Folio: The Magazine for Magazine Management, Oct 1, 2002 by Whitney Joiner

Byline: Whitney Joiner

Launch Date: Late November (Buyer's Guide)

Company: Prosumer Media

Frequency: Goes monthly in April 2003

Target Audience: Tech enthusiasts

Subscription: $2/month for membership in Digital Lifestyle club, including sub to Dig_iT

Newsstand Price: $4.99

Ad Rates: $2,200-$8,500

Editor: David Bunnell

Publisher: Peter Hutchens

Digital cameras, personal digital assistants, MP3 players - today, these are the sexy lifestyle-improvement products; the PC has become passe when it comes to digital accessories. Says David Bunnell, the founder and former editor of Macworld and PC World, "The focus is not so much on the computer anymore as it is on a whole host of devices that work together and are synergistic with each other." And so Bunnell - an entrepreneur whose controversial Upside magazine filed for bankruptcy last year - is moving on to this next-gen tech with a digital lifestyle magazine called Dig_iT.

Techno gizmos are transforming the way Americans work and play - much like the PC changed our lives two decades ago, Bunnell says. Look around. Electronics shops are now selling more digital cameras than analog cameras. And more and more magazines are running a "gadgets" section. Bunnell's title takes the gadgets department to a new extreme. The magazine features product reviews of the latest electronics, but also answers integration questions like, "Which PDA will work with my existing software?" "It's not focused on the products in isolation; it's focused on the products in context and how people use the products - the impact these products have on your life," Bunnell says.

To introduce the title, Bunnell and his partner, Fred Davis - the former editor of MacUser and PC Week - are launching a buying guide. It hits in November, just in time for the holidays. But the magazine won't go monthly until it makes its official newsstand debut in April.

Still, some would second-guess the wisdom of introducing a digital title at a time when the tech category is in a shambles. Actually, says Davis, it's a smart time to strike: "All the best talent is suddenly available again, and the competition is wounded. We're able to go out with an exciting story when everyone else is talking about layoffs and bankruptcy."

Sign-on online

The partners hope to create "a new kind of publishing company," says Bunnell. While the magazine will be available on the newsstand - about 100,000 copies of the first issue will be distributed to bookstores and major newsstands across the country - the only way to subscribe will be online. There's a reason for this electronic elitism. The subscription is part of a $2 membership fee to Digital Lifestyle club. Members receive a print copy of Dig_iT, online-only content, deals on some of the products the magazine reviews, and event invites. Readers will manage their subscription online, and, like with AOL or EarthLink, will renew monthly and be able to cancel at any time. To contain start-up costs, all marketing efforts will also be electronic, says Bunnell.

Membership fees, however, are not at the crux of the business model, according to Bunnell. More than half of the company's revenue will come from advertising. The plan is to acquire at least 100 ad pages for the 224-page premiere issue. Dig_iT will target the country's 20 million tech enthusiasts - consumers who own two or more digital products - but advertising will come from general as well as tech categories. The sales staff is pitching computer and electronics manufacturers along with auto and clothing companies. Bunnell is going for the same mix that's found in Conde Nast's Wired. "Some of the agencies will look at us as being sort of loosely in the category that would include Wired and maybe Fast Company and Business 2.0," he says. "The difference is that we have a much stronger focus on products. As a result, we'll have a lot more product advertising than most magazines have."

"If you've got a tech lifestyle publication, you have to make the most of the lifestyle elements," says Jim Spanfeller, former president of consumer magazines at Ziff Davis Media and currently president and CEO of Forbes.com. "It's not going to be easy. Wired is a fine publication and is struggling mightily. If it's purely reviews, I think they're going to find some problems," he says.

Universal McCann associate media director Bob Martin, who places media for PC software divisions within Microsoft, says he's "seriously considering" suggesting Dig_iT to Microsoft. "They seem to have a much more realistic and conservative business plan," he says. "There's really nothing in that tech-head, gadgety space. Wired is a bit macro. Yahoo! Internet Life was a very over-the-top consumer magazine and very dedicated to the Internet." If the magazine stays focused on "building themselves up as the experts from where all of [these products] converge," then it has a real shot, says Martin.

ON THE LAUNCH PAD

Common Good

Launch Date: October 2002

Publisher: The O'Donnell Fund and O'Donnell Media