April 9, 2007 at 8:31 pm
From Web to Print: ‘The Onion’ a case model of reverse publishing
Peeling the Onion from Web to Print
The Onion debuted a print product in Washington, DC last week, on the heels of it’s web-TV launch [See post, Onion TV Live Now].
The Onion’s media kit claims a healthy print circulation of 610,000 weekly, with print products in nine markets (not including the recent DC launch), and demographics similar to alt readers [See AWN demographics].
And hey, since faux-alts and dailies have been stealing ideas from alts for years, it seems only fair to size up this latest addition to newsracks.
The Onion’s DC print product is a great example of a reverse publishing model - content that is produced and then adapted for its respective mediums.
Graphs created by LauraFries.com using OmniGraffle
In its inaugural edition, the printed version of the DC Onion featured ‘news’ articles that published throughout the week on theONION.com. A.V. Club content (Arts and Entertainment Coverage) including both full-text articles (published on Friday online, vs. the paper’s Thursday), and excerpts of older reviews for capsule movie reviews.
Local events coverage - A.V. Washington, D.C. - featured 150 word capsules highlighting music, film and comedy events, with short articles written locally. None of this material currently appears on an Onion website.
What ideas can I steal?
- Different editorial calendars/publishing schedules for content that appears online and in print
- Formats that suit the medium: short, scannable excerpts in a commuter-based print product, and lengthier, more comprehensive coverage online.
- Brand leverage: Just as the Onion uses its brand name familiarity to launch new products with authority, so too can alts!
Thoughts?
Why is the Onion expanding into print markets at a time when so many others are shrinking their print operations in favor of web publishing? Will the Onion create city-specific web presences? What other web/print entities does the Onion have partnerships with?
Tags: onion, publishing, reverse publishing, workflow
Murray:
April 10, 2007 at 8:10 am
I think that model is what we all need to move towards, but their would be additional staffing requirements unless editorial is going to have fewer rounds of edits. Looking at statistics from other sites and other models I believe the future is in greatly expanding user generated content . We will always have our features and top stories, but I think we will need to engage the readers more interactively to keep them coming back.
User generate can also mean we start the conversation but provide the users more interactive ways of participating in the conversation than just comments.
Jason Joyce:
April 10, 2007 at 8:18 am
Here in Madison, home of the Onion (if now only the business office), we’re told that city-specific websites are very much in the offing. We’ve watched them expand their A&E coverage to include not just local critics picks, but restaurant content and other stuff.