Magazines Monetizing their Digital Presence: Three Strategies, Some Success

This report examines the online strategy of content expansion, a web-publishing strategy used by some magazines that can help draw traffic and have a positive effect on advertising revenue and achieve web monetization. The report begins by assessing the various elements that have historically impeded magazine publishers from monetizing their online properties and the reasons content-focused website redesigns have become routine. The report then introduces and analyzes content strategy and the role it plays in audience discoverability, with specific attention given to the content expansion strategy and its role in monetizing both content and audiences. The three publications examined in this report are united in their identification of a financially failing digital presence and their use of a content expansion strategy in the hope of reverting the trend.