Flipboard希望拯救出版业

    麦克库伊说，但更重要的是，如果马歇尔在撤走他的内容并且称这种服务是“骗局”之前与Flipboard沟通的话，那么他可能会了解到，Flipboard正在计划打造一项计划，让小型出版商实际上能够联合起来销售广告。这有点新闻价值：Flipboard尚未正式公布这一计划。麦克库伊称，这项计划将在明年的某个时候推出。此外，Flipboard还计划成立自己的广告团队，为小型出版商减负。

    麦克库伊坚持表示：“我们想帮助他们。”部分媒体权威人士认为，“影响范围”本身就是让出版商留在Flipboard上的一个足够充分的理由。麦克库伊同意这种说法相当愚笨。他说：“基本上关键在于钱。”他承认，如果没有带来营收的话，那么“让外界知道你的名字”并没有多少价值。不过，他补充说，进驻Flipboard使出版商在他们最终可以开始获取广告收入之后处于一个更有利的境况之中。现在就建立读者基础，他们以后就更容易销售更多的广告，从而赚取更多的钱。

    麦克库伊表示，他之所以必须先从大型出版商入手，只是因为他们在进驻这个平台方面做好了最充分的准备。他们现在向古驰（Gucci）、李维•斯特劳斯（Levi Strauss）和达美航空（Delta）等大品牌销售广告。麦克库伊说，平均而言，这些广告的每千次展现量价格是网络横幅广告的许多倍。

    部分原因是因为Flipboard的广告更像是杂志广告。这些广告的版面很大（尤其是在平板电脑上），富有艺术气息，而且强调品牌意识。与此同时，网络广告的价值正在直线下降，因为他们多半根本无法达到预期的效果。更糟糕的是，他们越来越多地通过广告网络销售，其中广告定价和投放基本上是由计算机程序协商的，从而推动价格越来越低。品牌推广活动的价值远远超过由广告程序大量产生的那种广告——其中许多的质量都极其低劣。

    据麦克库伊称，Flipboard从所有广告收入中收取的分成比例很小。他说：“绝大部分广告营收都归出版商所有。”不过他不愿讨论具体数字。但他表示，公司最近一个季度的广告营收是前一季度的三倍。

    去年把内容撤离Flipboard的另外两家知名出版商是：《连线》杂志（Wired）和《纽约客》（The New Yorker），它们都是康迪纳斯特旗下的杂志。Flipboard应用程序仍显示这些杂志文章的一些介绍性文字，而想要阅读更多内容的读者必须通过点击转入这些出版商的网站。麦克库伊说，他希望未来某个时候能让《纽约客》回来（“我们一直在与所有出版商洽谈”）。他同时指出，这些出版物离开该服务平台时，正好《纽约时报》（the New York Times）在签约加入。《纽约时报》的读者每月可以免费阅读三篇文章。此后，他们必须订阅《纽约时报》，或者通过登记证明自己已经订阅《纽约时报》。《纽约客》认为，由于它这么多内容都是在付费墙后面，因此它进入Flipboard平台没有任何意义。麦克库伊说，鉴于Flipboard正在让自己适应付费墙，这种情况可能会改变。

    而且康迪纳斯特旗下的其他几份出版物仍然留在Flipboard平台上，其中包括《名利场》（Vanity Fair）、《好胃口》（Bon Appetit）和《Glamour》。据麦克库伊称，《名利场》的广告位最近已经售罄，这在该应用程序上仍然是一件很少发生的事情。

    But more important, McCue says, if Marshall had talked to the company before yanking his content and calling such services "scams," he might have learned that Flipboard is planning to create a program for smaller publishers, enabling them to in effect band together to sell ads. This is a bit of news: Flipboard hasn't formally announced it yet. McCue says the program will launch sometime next year. Further, the company plans to create its own ad team to take the burden off smaller publishers.

    "We want to help them," McCue insists. He agrees that the argument by some media pundits -- that "reach" by itself is a good enough reason to be on Flipboard -- is rather witless. "It's very much about the money," he says. "Getting your name out there" isn't of much value if revenue isn't coming in, he acknowledges -- though he adds that a presence on Flipboard puts publications in a much better position for when they can eventually start collecting ad revenue. Building up a readership now will make it easier to sell more ads for more money later.

    McCue says he had to start with bigger publications first, simply because they were the best prepared to come on board. They now sell ads to big brands like Gucci, Levi Strauss, and Delta. On average, McCue says, these ads sell for many times what the cost-per-thousand rate is for banner ads on the web.

    That's in part because Flipboard's ads are more like magazine ads. They're big (especially on a tablet), arty, and emphasize brand awareness. The value of web ads, meanwhile, is plummeting because they simply don't work for the most part. Making matters worse is the way they are increasingly being sold -- through ad networks where pricing and placement are basically negotiated by computer programs, driving prices ever lower. Brand campaigns are worth much more than the kinds of ads that are churned out by ad programs -- many of which are downright cheesy.

    Flipboard takes a cut of all ad revenue that is, according to McCue, very small. "The publishers get the vast majority of revenues," he says, though he won't discuss numbers. He does say that total ad revenues in the company's latest quarter were three times the revenues of the preceding one.

    Two other well-known publishers pulled their content from Flipboard last year: Wired and The New Yorker, both Conde Nast titles. The app still displays a bit of introductory text for their articles, and readers who want to see more must click out to their websites. McCue says he hopes to have The New Yorker back at some point ("we're always in talks with everybody"), and notes that those publications left the service just as the New York Times was signing on. Times readers get three free articles a month. After that, they must either subscribe to the paper or prove through a sign-on that they already do. The New Yorker felt that since so much of its content was behind a paywall, it didn't make sense for it to be on Flipboard. That might change now that Flipboard accommodates paywalls, McCue says.

    And several Conde Nast publications are still on Flipboard, including Vanity Fair, Bon Appetit, andGlamour. Vanity Fair's ad inventory recently sold out, according to McCue -- still a rare occurrence on the app.