DIGITAL DOESN'T MEAN CHEAP

Jesada Chandraprasert writes on CNet Asia about digital editions of magazines in Thailand, and he talks about the cost savings for readers. Whilst I agree that there is a significant cost saving versus the imported titles I feel it will be a long time before digital replaces print in the local market.
One important fact to remember is that digital doesn't mean cheap. It's still pretty costly to develop and host a digital edition of a Thai magazine, and no publisher is going to make money where there is only minimal adoption among readers. You would need at least 100 subscribers even at 50 baht per copy (which is about 50 per cent of the average cover price of printed magazines here) to make it work financially. Advertisers here just don't understand and appreciate this media and everything that it can offer them, so all revenue for now will have to come from readers.