Scribd adds unlimited access to 'New York' and 'Time' magazine
Full access to the publications starts this month.
Last summer Scribd axed romance novels because it couldn't afford them. Business has apparently stabilized because now it's adding magazines to the fold. Not those types of magazines, though. Starting this month, what's being added to the subscription-based reading service is unlimited access to publications Bloomberg Business Week, Fortune, Money, New York, People and Time. The magazines are a value-add and won't bump the existing $8.99 monthly fee, according to Wall Street Journal.
These are full magazines, that will apparently be linked by interest and related articles based on what you're currently reading. It's worth noting that Scribd's offering isn't nearly as robust as what you can get with Amazon's all-you-can-read Kindle Unlimited subscription, of course.
In all, this seems like an experiment for publishers more than it does Scribd itself. Scribd appears to be happy just to increase what it offers to subscribers. Heads of licensing and biz dev for Time Inc. and New York magazine, on the other hand, seem to be doing it more for insights of how people read their product than seeing it as a revenue driver.
"We're interested in new emerging platforms where we may gain exposure to readers we may not be already reaching," New York's Camilla Cho said.
