Reader’s Digest is a monthly general-interest family magazine co-founded in 1922 by Lila Bell Wallace and DeWitt Wallace. For many years, Reader’s Digest was the best-selling consumer magazine in the United States, losing that distinction in 2009 to Better Homes and Gardens.
According to Wikipedia, Reader’s Digest reaches more readers with household incomes of $100,000+ than Fortune, The Wall Street Journal, Business Week and Inc. combined. Which means Reader’s Digest is big business. Yet, we all know how much pressure big media companies are under today. Reader’s Digest is no exception. The print edition of Reader’s Digest has cut frequency, slashed rate base in the U.S. and shed staffers.
But things are looking up according to Folio Magazine.
The magazine will introduce 24 new products–both digital and print–over the next year.
According to Reader’s Digest Media president Dan Lagani, the magazine is “returning to its roots” as a “trusted curator” of information for its family-centered consumers.
I’ve thought about the Reader’s Digest model many times since launching AdPulp with Shawn Hartley in 2004. Thinking about it again today reminds me that there’s a major difference between aggregation by software and aggregation by hand.
