THAILAND MAGS IN SINGAPORE
My trip to Singapore last weekend gave me an opportunity to study the Thailand-based magazines that distribute outside the Kingdom. Many claim to have pan-Asian circulation however I only saw four magazines on sale at the two main Singapore bookshops, Borders and Kinokuniya.
The four magazines, all of which are English, were Tropical Living in Thailand, DestinAsia, Tropical and Lifestyle + Travel. I didn't see a single Thai language magazine on sale, however there was one rather forlorn and dogeared copy of the previous days The Bangkok Post, minus its inserts but for sale at three times the cover price.
5 comments:
I'm surprised they even try and sell the Bangkok Post there.
As a local subscriber of several years already, my dissatisfaction with the paper is mounting to the point I may not renew that subscription.
Local news I can get from the Post website, and regional / international content is probably better from Times Online, NYT and the like.
You've actually hit on a very important point - and one that was discussed quite a lot at the World Magazines Congress in London this week.
The content you read has a cost. As a newspaper reader the publisher gets come of that cost back (in several ways) but when you read online there is little or no financial benefit for the publisher.
I think it will not be too many months before we see some newspapers and magazines experimenting again with pay walls and the like.
Somehow they need to get revenue from what is being read online for free - and that's not coming from advertising at the moment.
The problem is that most newspapers merely reprint what comes from the wires. If one newspaper puts up a wall to force payment for a story, a quick google will find the same story someplace there is no pay wall.
To make money, newpapers need original, relevant content.
these mags available in singapore are quite cool. it does give an impression that thailand is a mag hub in one way - esp on travel. oh btw, there's also the mag called 2 (or 2 magazine).
I wish more of the Singapore (and from other cites around the world) magazines were more widely available here. That said .. we've always got JJ and you never know what you're going to find there!
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