Digital magazines to replace text magazines?

A lot of us have grown up reading text, whether as books, magazines, or newspapers, and now the web pages on the Internet (which for folks like us isn’t about downloading music/movies or playing games). That is why despite being so digital otherwise, I still prefer to look at my newspaper in the morning with a cup of coffee. However, young people are less into reading and more into listening and viewing (several metrics point to teenagers spending more time in front of a screen). I, therefore, believe that gradually most of the text will be replaced by video and audio. And therefore, a magazine on a CDROM/DVD is an alternative to many trade journals and business magazines that I read. Again this is a short-term opportunity till watching high-quality video on the Internet becomes as painless as reading text in a blog. In fact some Japanese magazines already insert CDROM/DVD into their magazines. This format allows them to make it more interactive, insert video clips and high-resolution images, and more importantly, hyperlinks. So when the reader sees a product that he or she likes, he or she can click on it right away and check it out, and maybe even buy it.



I am looking forward to the day when I can post my messages either as audio or video files (I know that technically it is already possible; I just want to make it easier to find what I have to say – something that can happen only with text and image files right now). In fact, Google has a distinct preference for simple text.



I believe that this trend presents several growth opportunities for media businesses. Even non-media businesses should start to think of a richer format to communicate with their target customer base.