The magazine Sports Illustrated has over 3.5 million subscribers and is read by about 23 million people each week. Sports Illustrated has embraced technology by not only producing a print magazine, but also an iPad edition that adds to their already existing webOS and Android tablet editions for subscribers. They have fully used the mediums available to them and have, as a result, been able to offer their customers with a multitude of ways to subscribe to their content. This business model and design has allowed them to continue to increase and grow profits at a time that is particularly difficult for print magazines.

All too often, companies forget that 1. advertising with a magazine need not be solely with their print version and 2. that advertising with different magazine mediums is a great way to target different demographics.  For example, the average SI subscriber who reads articles on the iPad is much younger than the subscriber who reads the print version — this could not only change the advertising copy that you use in each version but it may also determine whether you advertise at all in one version or the other.

Although print magazines are having a difficult time staying alive these days, don’t forget about the newer options that they’re presenting for advertising.