SO FAR, SO GOOD!

Shane Mensforth

Our transition from print to fully digital was, without doubt, SA Angler’s biggest ever gamble. After producing the magazine in hard copy form for 45 years, we had no idea of what to expect from our readers when it suddenly disappeared from newsagent shelves. We tossed the whole scenario around for months before eventually making the final decision, listing all the potential positives and negatives of changing our format and delivery platform.

During that period there were plenty of sleepless nights for both Brett and me, but in the end it was sheer economics that forced our hand and ultimately spelled the end of the printed mag’. Virtually every aspect of production was getting too expensive, which dominoed its way down the line and eventually resulted in a final product many readers could no longer afford. Our newsagent sales began to dip gradually, indicating an unpredictable future, and when three other fishing magazines from around the country fell over in the space of six months, we simply had no choice – other than to close SA Angler down – and none of us wanted that!

As anticipated, we did experience some push back for a few weeks from long-time readers who weren’t happy about the digital transition. However, the negative reactions were quickly and comprehensively outnumbered by the positive ones; in fact, within a fortnight of our first digital issue being released, all the feedback received was positive and, in many cases, glowing! Naturally, this was a massive relief for Brett and me and, as early figures started to come through from Pocket Mags (our on-line digital partner) on actual viewing sessions, app view downloads and individual article views, our smiles broadened further. By the end of May we had accumulated a total of 22,000 readers, which was around double what we were hoping to achieve – a far cry from the number of hard-copy issues we were selling towards the end, which had fallen to under 4,000 and was in an alarming downward spiral.

Equally pleasing with the transition was the fact there had been no glitches for our readers in on-line access, which loomed as a potential issue with a new digital product. We are very lucky to have Pocket Mags as our partner, as they have coached us all the way through and have provided invaluable support on the odd occasion when Brett and I have run into a problem.

So, our readership has expanded markedly, but what about advertising? With the magazine now free, the only revenue we’d receive would come from our regular advertisers, and this would be critical to future success. Advertising in our final few printed issues was still reasonably strong, but several of the bigger companies were beginning to show less enthusiasm than they had back in the golden days, and we could sense things were headed in the wrong direction. It’s all a numbers game with advertisers these days, and if you can’t convince them you’re still providing ‘bang for their buck’, they tend to lose interest pretty quickly.

Happily, our first digital issue retained most of our regular advertisers and even picked up a couple of new ones and, I’m very pleased to report, this issue includes just over 20 per cent more in ad revenue than the Winter issue last year. This makes sense, of course, as SA Angler’s new zero price tag has drawn a significant increase in readership, which translates to far greater exposure for our advertisers. The digital format also enables advertisers to link back directly to their websites and, as we progress further, to include video clips of their products being used. It’s a win/win situation on both sides.

Although we have chosen to adopt a ‘crawl before you walk’ approach in all of this, preferring to get the digital basics right and then look further ahead, there is one more little surprise lurking around the corner. As we have picked up a lot of interest in the magazine from other states since it went digital, and particularly Victoria and Tasmania, Brett and I are seriously considering opening up our content to include stories from those states. We already have a handful of top notch contributors from over the border keen to write for us regularly, as well as the country’s best, Steve Starling, so the temptation is definitely there to grow and expand. This doesn’t mean our SA content will dop away at all, but rather that the magazine will become progressively larger and more comprehensive.

Being able to read feature stories on Tassie bream and whiting, Victorian tuna and snapper, and possibly southern WA salmon and mulloway, alongside our own, home-grown species has to be appealing – particularly as it will be free and will include the very best angling writers in the country.

Considering the success of SA Angler since we went digital, ‘Southern Angler’ is a very real possibility. Did I say something about crawling before we walk? Maybe not!