Mobile Tagging in German Magazines: a One-Year Study of QR Code Usage in Top-Selling Mass Market Publications
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Management 2014, 4(3A): 12-20 DOI: 10.5923/s.mm.201401.02 Mobile Tagging in German Magazines: A One-Year Study of QR Code Usage in Top-Selling Mass Market Publications Stephan Böhm*, Daniela Ruthardt Department of Design and Computer Science, Rhein Main University of Applied Sciences, Wiesbaden, 65195, Germany Abstract In the last decade, media consumption has shifted from traditional printed publications towards online media. This is why publishing companies are forced to develop innovative cross- and multi-channel strategies to protect revenues and to prevent further customer churn. Such strategies can be implemented on the basis of mobile tagging. Mobile tags such as QR codes have been used in German mass market publications for quite some time. Although the general usage and user acceptance of mobile tagging has already been subject to research, studies are still lacking on company use of mobile tags in mass market publications. Against this background, this paper presents a longitudinal study on the application of QR code technology in the 2012 issues of ten top-selling German popular magazines. The results of the study indicate that company usage of QR codes increased by 140 percent in 2012. The application of QR codes is dominated by commercial purposes such as advertisements. Editorial usage is mostly limited to popular news magazines but seems to have an impact on the usage intensity of commercial tagging. Best practices for QR codes integration, such as the usage of deep links, were observed for the majority of the analysed case studies. On the other hand, the study has revealed room for improvement. Keywords Mobile Tagging, QR codes, Cross Media Strategies, Popular Magazines such technologies also enables the transition from classic 1. Introduction print and offline worlds to modern online platforms. Mobile tagging is an approach which creates such a link between The print media industry is currently being challenged by print and online and is thereby able to bridge the gap emerging technologies, demographic change and a shift in between magazines and additional online information. media consumption from print to online technologies. Mobile tags are two-dimensional (2D) barcodes that can Digitization of media and ubiquitous access to the Internet be decoded with camera-equipped mobile devices [7, 8]. have established new channels for content distribution and These tags can be added to newspapers and magazines to caused an ongoing expansion of online content [1–3]. As a provide access to supplementary editorial or commercial result, usage of traditional media, such as TV, radio and content. In print media, so-called Quick Response (QR) print media, is dwindling. This decline also affects the codes are commonly used for this purpose [9]. These codes circulation figures of newspapers and magazines which are decoded using a special reader software and a have been sinking continuously for years. The decrease in smartphone camera. If a link (i.e., a URL) is embedded in a circulation, in turn, leads to a drop in sales revenue from QR code, access to further information on the Internet can advertising, which had until recently constituted 40 to 60% be provided via the reader’s smartphone. of overall revenue of such print products [4]. In the face of Mobile tagging thereby enables publishers to develop these developments, newspaper and magazine publishers new cross media publishing strategies and to offer have been forced to rethink their existing formats and added-value for the target groups of readers and advertisers business models and are already reacting by gradually which can be put to commercial use. The advantages of integrating online and mobile channels into their business static print versions (sensory appeal, structured presentation models. One approach is “Cross Media Publishing”, by and mobility) can be combined with the wealth of which contents are delivered using various channels and by information, topicality and interactivity of the Internet. In including the use of new technologies [5, 6]. The use of terms of editorial content for example, usage of QR codes makes it possible to offer new and additional information to * Corresponding author: [email protected] (Stephan Böhm) articles even if they have already been printed and Published online at http://journal.sapub.org/mm published. The tags can also be used to provide additional Copyright © 2014 Scientific & Academic Publishing. All Rights Reserved information for which there was insufficient space in the Management 2014, 4(3A): 12-20 13 print article or to enrich an article with multimedia contents. discusses the research background with regard to the Based on these capabilities of mobile tags, the publishers situation in the German magazine market and best practices can integrate new media elements and implement a value for the application of QR codes in print media. The research driven customer retention strategy for their traditional print objectives and methodology of the longitudinal study are publications. Besides linking the QR codes with editorial presented in Section 3. The article continues with some content, there is also potential for commercial use. This selected findings of our study and its interpretation in ranges from an online extension of traditional print Section 4. The article concludes with a summary of the advertisements to advanced customer acquisition and findings and implications for further research in Section 5. retention strategies (e.g. voucher campaigns) and finally to linking advertising to concrete purchase and ordering options in mobile commerce. 2. Research Background In this regard, QR codes can be seen as an interactive 2.1. Situation of the German Magazine Market mobile advertising tool: They enable a greater degree of connectivity to the customers and thus can strengthen the The term “print media” is commonly used to describe customer relationship. Offline audiences can be converted media whose final product is made of paper and includes into online relationships or active buyers by using mobile books, newspapers and magazines. Popular periodical print tags as a call to action for immediate response towards the media for the mass market are newspapers and magazines. advertising message. In addition, QR codes offer advanced Newspapers are those publications which appear at least opportunities to evaluate consumer interests and response twice a week. The content represents current topics, not rates of advertising campaigns [10]. Regardless of their limited to a specific issue, so that the categories politics, technical capabilities, QR codes can also be used as a “Key economics, culture, entertainment, current events and sport Visual” with the objective of transporting an innovative always exist independently of the specific newspaper. brand image. However, if the QR code is not linked to real Magazines, on the other hand, are those publications, added value, such effects will be short-lived or even turn which appear at least four times a year and therefore do not out to be counterproductive in the long term. have to be published in a weekly cycle. The topicality of the Mobile tagging as described above has been used for represented information is less than that of the newspaper. In quite some time in German magazines and its dissemination addition, magazines cover specific target groups and focus in the print industry has increased over the last few years. In on content to meet the interests of the respective readership general, according to a recent study among German [4]. Magazines that address mass markets within the segment companies, 88 percent of large German enterprises have of non-professionals and aim to satisfy readers’ needs for already used mobile tagging and 64 percent have been using information, entertainment and recreation are referred to as this technology for two years or less. The lack of experience popular magazines (“Publikumszeitschriften”) [15]. These with mobile tagging is probably also one of the reasons for popular magazines can be divided into general interest and the fact that only 6 percent of this study’s respondents stated special interest titles. While the former are aimed at a very that mobile tagging was of high importance for their wide audience and typically include information on politics, companies and only 4 percent had a defined mobile tagging economics, current events, culture, entertainment and sport, strategy [11]. Recent studies on the user acceptance of the latter focus on easily understandable information and mobile tagging indicate that most smartphone users are entertainment elements for a more specific topic or narrower aware of QR codes but only a minority is using this target group. technology on a regular basis [12]. In international literature, Popular magazines are also affected by the general decline the use of QR codes in magazines has been studied [13, 14], of print media discussed in the introduction. Between the but more comprehensive analysis on the German market is fourth quarters of 2003 and 2013, the average monthly still missing so far. circulation of popular magazines in Germany fell from 125 Against this background, a longitudinal study on the to 105 million, thereby declining by around 16 percent [16]. application of QR code technology by German publishers In contrast, the number of popular magazine titles in was conducted in the paper at hand to answer the following Germany has increased continuously over the last few years. research questions: Between 2003 and 2013, the number of magazines with at least quarterly publication increased by 321 titles. This 1. What is the status quo and the trend for QR code development was particularly driven by the rising number of integration in German popular magazines? special interest titles. It can be assumed that this was a 2. What is the purpose of QR code integration? strategy the publishers followed to strengthen their position 3. What type of content is linked with the codes? in the market by better covering the readers’ need for 4.