Last month, we called attention to Entertainment Weekly’s much-heralded inclusion of a video ad in their print magazine. Well, the same folks who lauded that move must be flippin’ the hell out over the video above (thanks to Nick Evans for the tip!). Proponents of “Living Art” walk us through the hypothetical magazine article of the future, which unfolds more like an interactive video than a printed story (forward to the 3:04 mark for the demonstration).
Despite the kooky name (uh, isn’t “Living Art” a term that’s more appropriate for things like this?), we think that this video is in many ways, right. It’s reasonable to assume that future iterations of magazines will feature visually engaging, high-definition, and motion-filled juxtapositions of copy and image.
The only problem: while the “vision” here might be right, the medium is, unfortunately, dead wrong.
Considering how expensive it was to create one small video ad in the aforementioned Entertainment Weekly issue, it’s safe to say the scenario here would be cripplingly expensive in magazine form. Isn’t the unsustainable business model the root of the problem facing the print industry? Do the producers of this video not realize the irony that we’re watching this story for free on Youtube?
Furthermore, do we really want to be carrying more stuff? Why would someone consume this video through a disposable medium when they could interact just as engagingly through a tablet PC or a high-def e-reader (or perhaps tomorrow’s projecting smartphone!) that they’ll already own? More to the point, why would we buy one copy of a magazine when most publishers are archiving decades of content in the much-hyped “cloud” of information?
And don’t get us started on the environmental implications of this technology. How will we be disposing of these single issues after we read them? They’re going to be loaded up with far more than just ink and paper, and we’ve sent just about enough e-waste to China already, right?
But, as we said above, the vision here is still right on. In fact, it may hold the solution to the problems facing the publishing industry, who are now scrambling to pull their content back behind a pay wall. That’s a strategy destined to fail when the next guy can simply pass along similar text for free. But, the content in the video above is of an extremely high quality. It’s engaging. And, it’s worth paying a little extra to consume. In other words, publishers creating this high level of content can probably charge a premium for access. Maybe a subscription doesn’t get you a physical copy of the magazine as shown in the video, but rather, access to streaming archives of similarly compelling articles. Tie in some advertisements, and there’s at least some silver lining for an industry which, for now, needs to focus on the “art of living” first.
