Auckland got a new publication this week. Paperboy is a free, print magazine to be distributed largely through Auckland’s public transport network.
Bauer Media, publisher of Metro, North and South, Woman's Day and New Zealand Women's Weekly has taken the plunge with Paperboy. But why has it backed a print product in this digital age?
Paperboy's first edition came out on Thursday. Photo: RNZ
Jeremy Hansen has moved from Bauer’s Home Magazine to edit the new title.
“We believe digital is growing and incredibly important and Paperboy will be digital too as of next week.
“But people are now platform agnostic – they’ve moved on. If content is good and it’s easy for them to access, then they don’t care if it’s digital or paper.”
He believes there is still value in the print and a, “carefully edited product that contains great information that people want to read.”
Paperboy comes out every Thursday
“Part of the idea of it is it helps people plan their weekend in Auckland, it’s not a whole lot of listings, but it’s part of those edited highlights of what people can do.”
And when it comes to planning ahead, print is more nimble that digital, he says.
“We’ve spoken to so many people about when they try to plan their weekends, they have ten browser windows open on their computers and they give up and go to the bar they always went to because it’s too difficult.”
The time for Paperboy was right for an Auckland which has changed in the last decade, Hansen says.
“It has gone from this over-sized provincial town, that was often a bit down on itself, to this quite positive multi-cultural South Pacific metropolis; and people are really engaging with life in the city.”
Hansen says quality freebies, or ‘freemiums’ such as Stylist and the Evening Standard are going well in London and eight of the top ten magazines by advertising revenue are in this sector.
The magazine is based on the editorial pillars of food, culture style and ‘urbanism’ which he says is about the ways the Auckland is changing.
