VANCOUVER CANADA January 16 2013: Toronto Star Newspapers Ltd. publisher of the Toronto Star has launched a novel product bundle designed to grow its subscriber base and boost revenues. The promotion which pairs a subscription to The Star ePaper with the Kobo Vox™ eReader is powered by NewspaperDirect’s (ND) SmartEdition technology and a Star-branded PressReader application.
The two-for-one play a strategy pioneered by cable TV and wireless operators is a first for a Canadian newspaper publisher and is of particular significance because the Toronto Star is Canada’s most-read and highest-circulation newspaper. Of the more than 2 300 publications available on ND’s PressDisplay.com aggregated service and companion application PressReader (which is available for iOS Android Windows and BlackBerry devices) the Toronto Star consistently ranks in the top ten titles read daily worldwide.
“Paywalls are becoming a popular way for publishers to offset lower online advertising revenues but it’s only half the equation ” said Nikolay Malyarov vice president of publishing and legal affairs at NewspaperDirect. “Our publishing partners recognize that focusing on core competencies is a proven strategy for managing costs which is why more than 1 000 of them have chosen SmartEdition technology for their digital editions and PressReader for their applications. This strategy not only saves them money it adds value to their bundles giving readers all the quality content of the printed edition enhanced with powerful digital features on their device of choice.”
Numerous other publishers around the world are partnering with ND on successful bundling projects that leverage SmartEdition technology and introduce new and convenient ways for subscribers to access all the enhanced printed content in an immersive and engaging way. For example:
– The Philadelphia Inquirer and Philadelphia Daily News were two of the first newspapers to bundle their replica editions with an Android-based tablet
– Honolulu Star-Advertiser bundles print subscriptions with website access and SmartEdition-powered Print Replica
– The Boston Globe offers print subscribers access to its branded PressReader app so they can access advanced features such as on-demand narration of the entire edition while driving to work
– The Globe and Mail’s Globe2Go ePaper service was awarded the gold medal at the 2012 Canadian Online Publishing Awards for “Best Digital Replica” and is offered to Globe Unlimited subscribers at a discount
– The Irish Times bundles its ePaper with full-week print subscriptions
The Toronto Star ePaper makes the full content of each printed issue available to Web users in an engaging and feature-rich reading experience that includes replica and non-replica reading modes bookmarking article sharing via email or social networks on-demand audio a picture gallery article printing and commenting. The Toronto Star is also using ND’s SmartEdition technology as the foundation for the publisher’s “Classroom Connection” Newspapers in Education (NIE) Program.
For the Kobo Vox™ edition the Toronto Star utilizes ND’s PressReader for Android application which gives subscribers the flexibility of reading the entire colour edition online or offline plus high-performance rendering and advanced digital features that include:
– Two modes of reading — high-definition replica and “SmartFlow” tablet-optimized presentation
– SmartZoom which automatically positions the zoomed-in view to the beginning of an article.
– Article sharing by email or through Facebook and Twitter
– On-demand narration of articles
– Instant posting of articles to cloud-based clipping services Evernote and Instapaper
