Media Merge

The Combination of Newspapers, Magazines, Internet and Streaming Video is Creating a Powerful “New” Medium

One of the great aspects of print is that it puts something in people hands, something they’ve expressed great interest in by paying for it. As a result, each magazine and newspaper’s audience represents a community of shared interests. Therefore, by definition, the print audience is engaged with its media.

However, a possible weakness of print communications relative to broadcast has been the relatively long intervals between reader exposures to the medium. Rather than permitting a constant stream of messages as do radio and television, the magazine exposure interval in particular can be weeks or months even allowing for repeated readings.

The internet now empowers magazines and newspapers to communicate with audiences in real time, continuously and with constant interactivity and feedback. I just logged into Time.com, noted an article about breast cancer and emailed it to my wife. Before I could log out, Time’s website lured me to another health-related article. This is engagement and added value of the highest order.