This is not a rumor, but an idea. With the launch of the iPad and the other e-book readers launched on the market there is a new opportunity for content creators and advertisers to force the reader to view advertising.
Advertising in printed magazine
We all learned that advertising in print magazine has to be eye catching because we have 2 seconds of eye contact on average. If you cannot catch the eye of the reader you have lost the opportunity to deliver the message. The reader has also learned (just like on websites) to recognize advertising and ignore them.
The e-book magazine
There are several ways to deliver a magazine on the new e-book readers and iPads. You can have a PDF, a e-pub version and the most common way will be an App. Since the App comes from the publisher they can force you to view advertising in various ways:
- Embed the advertising in the layout
Just like print magazines - not so effective
- Show advertising every time you start read in the App
Like most video advertising for video content on the internet
- Interrupt your reading experience with commercial breaks
Like on TV, every 20 Minutes you are interrupted and you have to watch an ad for a certain amount of time
This advertising possibilities are an revenue channel for the publishers and even when they will not start right away with them you will see them further down the road. I can immagine that it will go the same evolution as cable companies went through.
So what do you think, will the advertising have a bad impact on your reading experience?
