For Spin's print advertisers, the digital extension is a freebie for now, but with the added value of the digital exposure and the high-tech audience-tracking data that come with it, Spin hopes it will be able to charge more as it sees higher demand.
Early feedback from Spin Digital, which has been available in a lightly promoted "soft launch" on MySpace for three weeks, indicates that viewers are spending an unusual amount of time with it -- six to seven minutes per visit, about double the time spent on a typical MySpace visit, according to Josh Brooks, vice president for marketing and content at the social network.
Renewals and new subscriptions to Spin were up 50% in January year over year, a sharp jump over previous months. Although Hartle said it was too early to say for sure, he thought some of the increase could be attributed to the digital product.
Slacker.com is convinced. Jonathan Sasse, vice president for marketing at the San Diego-based "personal radio" website, said he was trying to build name recognition for the music service when he bought a full-page print ad inside Spin's January edition, with a psychedelic drawing that looked like a '60s-vintage concert poster from the Fillmore West.
Sasse wasn't aware that Spin had chosen the January issue for its soft digital launch. A couple of weeks ago, "we started seeing activity -- a lot more traffic on our site. We couldn't figure out what it was, whether maybe Spin was running a promotion, but it was enough for us to call them to ask."
It was because MySpace visitors browsing through the digital version were being whisked to his site when they clicked on the ad.
One of the things Sasse liked about the digital edition was that "it had a magazine feel to it," he said.
A reader who opens Digital Spin's January edition sees all 112 pages laid out in rows and columns like a big game of solitaire.
The pages are vivid replicas created by Texterity Inc. of Southborough, Mass. Click on an image and two facing pages of the magazine come up. Click again to zoom in and read the article or ad copy just as you would in the print version, with none of the scrolling text or pop-up ads that might be found on a regular website.
The pages look just as they do in print, except for a discreet yellow button or two that links the reader to, say, a musician's fan page at MySpace Music, a music video at YouTube or Apple's iTunes store. If it's an ad, the button might bring you to the advertiser's Internet site or to a promotional video.
The Texterity technology also enables the magazine and its advertisers to measure and track viewership in great detail, giving them a leg up in behavioral marketing campaigns.
"We joke that you'll never need another focus group," said Cimarron Buser, Texterity's marketing vice president.
Spin Editor Doug Brod said he saw the digital version as a welcome and logical extension of the brand. "It's a magazine about music and visuals," he said, "so it's great to be able to read it and immerse yourself in the music at the same time."
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thomas.mulligan@latimes.com
