Readly wins The Spectator as its digital magazine inventory grows

The Spectator, the oldest continuously published magazine in the English language, has joined the digital magazine newsstand, Readly, with immediate effect.

Despite its long print heritage which dates back to 1828, the weekly current affairs title has been building a broad-based digital presence across a range of platforms. The move to Readly is the latest manifestation of that multi-channel strategy which sees over 60,000 readers joined by 2 million people who read the magazine online.

Readly is the UK’s leading digital newsstand and has pioneered the all-you-can-read subscription with a monthly fee which gives consumers access to a range of 520 UK magazine brands as well as a growing inventory of international titles. In a drive to make a step change in its audience growth, Readly cut its UK subscription price from £9.99 to £7.99 per month just two weeks ago.

Lucy Childs, The Spectator’s Subscriptions and Marketing Director, said: “Last year saw record growth in the number of subscriptions to the magazine as well as the highest engagement on digital platforms we’ve ever seen. In an intensely competitive media landscape, Readly is an excellent addition to our profile for reaching both the UK and overseas markets.”

The deal brings not only the latest issues, week by week, but also an archive of back issues stretching back two years. Childs: “Readly delivers a new audience to the magazine, who can read the latest editions and dig into our coverage of events in recent years. The Readly service is a great platform, which complements our other activities across the brand.”

Ranj Begley, Readly UK’s Managing Director, said: “Readly thrives on having a vibrant and wide-ranging inventory of magazines and we know from our research, that the News & Current Affairs category is a strong one in attracting first-time users. The arrival of The Spectator adds real weight to our offer. It is a real coup for us to be associated with such a strong international brand.”

Readly’s own research shows that consumers value a mix of being able to rely on familiar brands as well as having the freedom to trial new titles in a low risk, low friction environment. The service extends the reading repertoire of its subscribers. Begley: “We see The Spectator delivering in both areas. It is a known and trusted name. Yet we will also bring the title to a new audience who may know the name, but who have never given it serious consideration in the past. We provide an answer to the publisher challenge of digital discoverability.”

All about THE SPECTATOR

The Spectator was established in 1828, and is the oldest continuously published magazine in the English language. It provides independence of opinion, elegance of expression - the best writers and the sharpest analysis. The result, week after week, is that the best British journalists, critics, authors and cartoonists turn out their best work, to produce an extraordinarily wide-ranging title. The key facts:

• Print: 64,000 circulation.
• Online: 1.8m average monthly unique users.
• App: 10,000 subscribers.
• Social: 514,000 total Twitter reach.
• Events, emails and podcasts are extending the reach and influence of the brand.

All about the READLY app

Readly is a service which lets customers have unlimited access to hundreds of national and international magazines in one app. It offers fast download and easy, intuitive use so that the reader can read magazines online effortlessly. Once installed (on to up to five devices per subscriber), the app provides access to as many issues, both current and back inventory, as readers want to download on to their devices for a flat monthly subscription in an innovative “all you can read” package. Issues can be streamed or held remotely on the READLY server in the subscriber’s secure account area. The digital magazines are deconstructed from publisher PDF print files and are automatically reconstructed into an advanced format which is optimised for a wide range of devices. This provides ultra-fast downloading, simple and consistent navigation across all the magazines, together with advanced zoom, bookmark, search and sharing functions. The app can be used on a range of devices and operating systems including IoS, Android, Windows and Kindle Fire. Subscribers can start reading 5 seconds into a download which takes an average 30 seconds on a fast internet connection (or 2 minutes using 3G). Users’ behaviours are tracked in order to distribute revenues to each publisher based on the number of pages read and the time spent on each page. This data also provides publishers with deep insights into how their content is being consumed.

All about READLY

• Readly International AB, the company behind the Readly service, is a privately owned company headquartered in Sweden. Starting active operations in March 2013, Readly today has offices in Sweden, the UK, USA and Germany and a rapidly growing user base in more than 50 countries, making Readly the world’s leading digital platform for reading magazines online.
• Readly UK Ltd is the UK subsidiary which launched in this country in the Spring of 2014 and now deals with 65 UK publishers, promoting 520UK magazine brands.

For the Readly user video, go to gb.readly.com

Press Contact

Ranj Begley

Managing Director (UK)

ranj.begley@readly.com

+44 (0)20 7795 8186