IPC Appointment Boosts Digital Strategy
Neil Robinson, IPC Media’s digital director, has been appointed to the publisher’s main board and will now lead the company’s strategic development across its entire portfolio.
Robinson will work closely with each of the divisional managing directors and digital development directors at IPC, reporting directly to chief executive Sylvia Auton.
“Digital media is core to IPC’s growth strategy,” said Auton. “This appointment underlines our commitment to driving the digital agenda through our business.
“Neil brings to the board an excellent publishing track record, strategic insight and an understanding of how traditional publishing skills can be effectively harnessed to drive meaningful success in the digital space.”
Robinson has been with IPC since 1994, working initially in circulation sales before quickly moving into publishing, focusing on music and lifestyle brands, including NME, Loaded, Uncut and NME.COM.
In 1999, he was appointed commercial director of NME.COM, overseeing its initial expansion. In 2002 he took overall responsibility for the whole IPC Ignite music portfolio as publishing director, winning the PPA Publisher of the Year award in 2004 for his work repositioning the NME brand.
In 2005 he became publishing director in IPC TX, re-launching TV Times and developing IPC’s recent TV web launch www.whatsontv.co.uk (see What’s On TV To Launch New Website).
He was named IPC Media digital director in September 2006 and most recently has been directly involved in the development of IPC Southbank’s Homes portal and the UK website for In Style (see IPC Launches New Website In Style), both of which launch this month (see IPC Media Gets New Corporate Identity).
“My role is about supporting the business units in achieving their digital media ambitions, which are considerable, while bringing together the right mix of expertise and resource from within IPC, the wider Time Warner family and beyond,” said Robinson.
The consumer magazine sector has seen dramatic changes over the past few years, with titles evolving their online content and, more recently, the launch of stand-alone digital formats.
Dennis publishing successfully launched online lads’ mag Monkey last October, which is emailed directly to subscribers every week (see Dennis Launches New Online Lads Mag). The digital only magazine recorded an ABCe figure of around 209,000 for the last six months of 2006, despite its original target of 100,000.
Similarly, NatMags has launched a digital only title, Jellyfish, which is aimed at the teenage girl market with a heavy emphasis on the CosmoGirl branding (see NatMags Names Digital Magazine).
At MediaTel Group’s recent ‘Future of Consumer Magazines’ seminar, panellists suggested that the magazine industry needed to adapt in the digital age, with the key being the evolution of content to take readers online, rather than the replication of magazines online (see Magazines Must Work Harder To Evolve Content For Digital Platforms).
IPC is expected to announce the launch of its digital only product shortly.
IPC Media: 0870 4445000 www.ipcmedia.com