There has been lots of discussion in the publishing world around Edition apps over the past few months as more publishers look to adopt an edition-based publishing model, whether this is for their main publication or a new spin-off brand.
Just last month we launched the new Dallas Morning News Evening Edition on our own Edition platform. Other publishers, wanting to offer the latest news as-it-happens, are leaning towards a ‘live’ news experience. But, how do you know which solution is right for your publication?
Firstly, let’s define what we mean by ‘Edition’ and ‘Live’…
Edition
“A completable digital edition from a PDF, existing feeds or the PageSuite CMS”
Live
“A regularly updating live news experience, from existing feeds or the PageSuite CMS”
Both of these solutions provide the end-user, your reader, with different experiences.
To see which solution is right for you, you should firstly look at your audience and your content;

• Which devices do your audience consume content on?
• What reading habits do your audience have? Do they read your content in bitesize chunks, multiple times a day or do they prefer reading long-form content at set times throughout the day?
• Is your content free to view or do audiences need to purchase a subscription?

 
Once you’ve answered these questions you’ll be able to start to ascertain which type of product will best suit your strategy.
An Edition solution provides readers with a ‘completable’ reading experience, meaning that they are presented with that cover-to-cover experience which resonates with reading the print product. The fact that this is likened to reading the printed publication also means that it is more associated with a paid-for solution so would suit publishers who adopt a paid-for subscription model.

 
The Edition model is used by other leading publishers, such as The Times and The Sunday Times, who publish 3 editions per day. They have seen their subscribers grow significantly, last year reaching more than 300,000 paid digital-only subscribers.
On the other hand, a Live news app provides an endless feed of news content more suited to readers who want to access snippets of news on the go, at any time of the day. This format, perhaps more suited to a smartphone, is often more difficult to monetise as it’s similar to browsing a website – which is typically free to view. However, there are ways to drive revenue with a Live news app…

Our Live solution can include an Edition which many publishers ‘lockdown’ only to those readers who have purchased a subscription. This 2-1 concept enables publishers to offer readers multiple reading experiences within one app solution.
You can find out more about PageSuite’s Edtion and Live solutions by emailing hello@pagesuite.com and requesting a demo.
We hope this post has helped you to identify which solution is best suited to your strategy.