Here is the question that plagues the magazine industry at the moment. Reader Danielle likes Real Simple magazine and is a subscriber. However, there are so many ads in it that it’s ruining the experience for her. To make matters worse, the entire magazine is on their website… with fewer ads. So why should she subscribe?

Danielle says:

I’ve been a subscriber of Real Simple magazine for awhile now, and they are currently harassing me to renew my subscription. I’m not going to, and here’s why: when I receive my hard copy of the magazine it takes me thumbing through ten full pages of advertisements before I get to the first section.

Ten pages!

Considering that the pages are double-sided, that’s twenty ads to get to the initial content, and then many many more pages of ads in between every small section. Meanwhile, I can hop online and get all of the content that’s in the magazine for free with less ads. I just can’t believe this. There is nothing in the magazine that isn’t on the website! Where’s the benefit in being a subscriber? It’s so frustrating! I like the magazine so I want to give them my money, but I just can’t see any benefit in doing so.

Let’s ask the internet: What should magazines do to get you to subscribe?

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