Attitude, ‘Europe’s No1 gay life-style magazine’ is a bestselling print publication that is no stranger to digital, having launched its first digital editions in 2008 and its app version in June 2010. Since then, Attitude has excelled digitally benefitting from increased revenue and the ability to target new readers through the global distribution and ‘searchability’ that digital publishing offers.

Attitude’s digital editions have now been sold in over 50 countries. The digital edition of Attitude has 47% of its sales outside the UK, compared to 15% for the print edition.

Attitude’s initial offering was the frequently seen ‘enhanced print replica’ which was very successful, targeting affluent digital readers and increasing readership circulation around the world. Attitude wanted to amplify their digital success by launching a bespoke iPad edition , removing the zooming and panning of PDF replicas and adding extras such as video front covers, 360 degree image shots, video and gallery content. Attitude is known for its celebrity exclusives and dynamic fashion shoots, therefore multi-channel content such as backstage videos could be easily monetized. With this in mind, Attitude launched their first custom edition in October 2011 which featured a moving cover of model David Gandy and a wealth of exclusive video and gallery content.

Since launching their first custom edition app powered by MagazineCloner, the development in user experience has had a major impact - increasing user retention and positive feedback. Subscription conversion rates have risen from 13% of users prior to October 2011, up to 24% after the launch of the custom edition and again to 27% since the app has gone live on Newsstand. There has been a significant increase in advertising, sponsorship and sales revenue. This is an excellent result for Attitude and their app is seen in the UK App store’s top grossing chart, despite never having been promoted by Apple.

The app has improved audience interaction and accessibility to the magazine and the increase in revenue and paid downloads demonstrates that the app has both user value and a competitive market performance. Attitude is a perfect example of how publishers can reap the rewards of digital, reflowing existing content into a digital native product with minimal costs. Video has proven to be a successful way of improving audience response rates, bringing their audience proposition to life using this interactive element. For example, Attitude’s moving front cover, featuring a video of Strictly Come Dancing Winner Harry Judd sold an impressive 10,000 copies.

Matthew Todd, Editor of Attitude Magazine said,
"Since we launched our first iPad app back in June 2010, we have been overwhelmed by the response from our readers, especially from those international users who wouldn’t be able to read the magazine if it wasn’t available on the app store. Our digital sales numbers have increased every month and we are now delivering as many digital editions internationally as we do in print. This has been helped by adding Android and Online versions to the mix, using digital software powered by MagazineCloner. The decision to create an enhanced version specifically for the iPad, using MagazineCloner’s ‘Custom Edition’ software has helped us to double our digital subscriber conversion rate. The feedback we’ve received from our readers has been phenomenal – the reflowed design has been a huge hit with readers and the interactive elements compliment our editorial perfectly. We now use the custom build for each issue."