Anna Winston's (BD Magazine) presentation for the 'Mobile Apps in the Built Environment' event at The Building Centre in march 2012 - #BEapps

2. Digital income currently represents
more than 30% of BD's revenue
• Digital subscriptions increasingly important but
publishers have yet to prove that the pay wall
model for websites can provide sustainable
growth
• Consumers are more willing to pay for content in
app form, but are very sensitive to pricing
• The BD approach is to pursue growth through
the introduction of multiple platforms and
payment options.

3. Four cornerstones for content delivery;
print, online, mobile and app
print, online, mobile and app

4. Why are publishers so
interested in apps?
• Mobile is growing
• Glamour - Apps get attention and
win awards
• The old publishing model appears
to be broken
• Paying for content on mobile
devices is easy and consumers are
used to it (thanks iTunes!)

5. A bit of background
•Bdonline mobile currently generates over 50,000 page views a month from
20,000 visits
90% of mobile users in western Europe can use them to access the internet
Smartphone ownership in the UK grew by 80% last year - a third of the population
Apple app store just announced it had passed the 25 billion downloads mark -
represents huge growth in the five year period since the store opened
People user their phones more than their tablets - a recent survey by Gigaom
found that a quarter of uk iPad owners use the device only once a week or less,
mainly due to connectivity issues
•
•
•
•

6. How readers expect
their consumption of
content to change
• We asked 800 Bdonline readers how they saw
the way they consume content changing over
the next year...
• Blue =
dramatic
change
• Green =
marginal
change

7. The BD news app
• Launched November 2011
• Subscription wall introduced
February 2012
• Over 5000 downloads
• Lessons learnt - you can
never guarantee approval.
In-app subscriptions aren’t
always looked upon kindly
by Apple

8. The WA100 app
• Developed in partnership with Woobius
• First of its kind
• Two to three month development and
build period
• Launched February 2012 on iPad and
iPhone
• Sales from around the world including
USA, Australia, China, Denmark,
Nigeria, Italy, Spain, Sweden
• Lessons learnt - it takes longer than you
think! Marketing is key.