Print is alive!

5 reasonsprint isalive andTHRIVING

Here’s why we, and our 136,000+ readers, still love print.

Don’t get us wrong. We love digital, too. We reach audiences digitally as well and sell digital campaigns. In fact, we’d save some major paper, printing, and postage costs if even more people would read digitally.

But here are the 5 reasons our readers and we still love print. 

First, there’s something about the tactile, paper product that commands attention. Sure you can read stories online, but a magazine lying on my coffee table or on my breakfast table, with its superbly inviting cover, COMMANDs undivided attention and reminds me that I want to read it.

Perhaps one reason people still like to read paper is because emerging research shows retention of content is better among both adults and school children when it’s read on paper. Researchers hypothesize even the physical engagement of touching the page and turning the page may reinforce retention of information in a way tapping screens or buttons does not. The distraction factor and the propensity to multitask are other reasons people don’t remember the content as well. 

Second, there’s the growing trend to turn off and unplug. Many of us who work on computers all day don’t want to spend more time on a screen. It’s too easy for a work notification or message to pop up and distract me and then before I know it, instead of “just handling this one email,” I’ve spent an hour working that I didn’t intend to or need to. 

Third, leisure reading is different. The magazines I pay for and want to read are leisure reads. Missouri Life is a leisure read. It’s just too easy to be distracted by the next shiny thing that pops up on my screen. Reading articles in a book or magazine and lingering on paper fulfill different expectations than digital.

Fourth, the lower pixels required for fast online loading don’t portray photos as well, with the same lushness, the same saturation, the same richness of color you get on good quality paper.

Fifth, the advertising is complementary, typically, to the content of the magazine, especially in niche magazines like Missouri Life. There’s a different feeling about advertisements in this environment. Perhaps it’s because the content pulls people into the ads, where digital pushes content out. Our recent print ad readership studies by an independent, third-party researcher bear this out. By far and away, most ads in the magazine are “liked.” They are part of the whole package. Just like the magazine was invited into the home, so was your advertisement. Your ad shows up in a friendly and desired environment.